Scientists Take First Steps in Exploring Vast Rivers on Titan

Among the celestial bodies in our solar system, only two have liquid flowing on their surfaces. While Earth boasts rivers and lakes of liquid water, Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, features rivers of liquid methane shaping its landscape.

When we include Mars, which shows evidence of ancient lakes brimming with water billions of years ago, planetary geologists have three areas to study when it comes to both past and present river systems.

A new study supported by NASA and published today in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences introduces a groundbreaking technique that allows scientists to analyze the strength of ancient and active rivers on other planets, utilizing images from Mars and Titan.

Liquid on Titan

This study emerged from the fascination with understanding the behavior of liquid methane on Titan. Despite its unusual chemistry, Titan shares a nitrogen-based atmosphere with Earth (although with 1.5 times the atmospheric pressure) and inclement weather, including rainfall and lakes and oceans composed of liquid ethane and methane. These substances exist in liquid form due to Titan’s surface temperature, which plummets to around -290ºF/-179ºC.

Due to its thick atmosphere, scientists have limited images of Titan’s surface. However, the few images available from NASA’s Cassini mission reveal bodies of liquid along with valleys, mountain ridges, mesas, and dunes, providing tantalizing glimpses of the moon’s landscape.

Mississippi-Like Rivers

Recognizing that Titan’s rivers likely lack the necessary flow and sediment to create deltas, which are landforms shaped by fast-flowing rivers as they enter stagnant lakes, researchers modified mathematical equations describing Earth’s river dynamics to be applicable to other planets and moons with limited data. They considered factors such as the river’s width, slope, and the gravitational force acting upon it (Titan’s gravity is only 14% of Earth’s).

By focusing on two areas where they could measure river slopes—one resulting in a delta formation (within a lake comparable in size to Ontario) and another where rivers on Titan typically do not create deltas—they discovered that both rivers resemble wide, fast-flowing rivers on Earth, much like the mighty Mississippi. “Titan is the most Earth-like place,” said Samuel Birch, the first author from MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). “We’ve only seen a glimpse of it. There’s so much more to explore, and this remote technique is bringing us closer.”

‘Time Machines’ on Mars

The researchers also applied their equations to Mars, where high-resolution images have been captured by orbiters for many years. They concentrated on two well-known ancient lakebeds—Gale Crater, the current home of NASA’s Curiosity rover, and Jezero Crater, where the Perseverance rover currently operates.

Their analysis revealed that rivers likely flowed for at least 100,000 years in Gale Crater and at least one million years in Jezero Crater, a sufficient duration to potentially support life.

Exploring Mars and Titan

“What’s exciting about Titan is that it’s an active moon, while Mars provides us with a sort of time machine to study rivers that are no longer active and gain insights into what they were like during their active periods,” said Taylor Perron, the Cecil and Ida Green Professor in MIT’s Department of Earth, Atmospheric and Planetary Sciences (EAPS). “With this technique, we can make real predictions for a place where we won’t receive further data for a long time.”

However, in just 11 years, the researchers may have more data as NASA plans to launch an exciting mission to explore Titan. The mission, called Dragonfly, is scheduled to launch in June 2027 and reach Titan in 2034. Dragonfly, a drone-like spacecraft, will spend nearly three years studying Titan’s prebiotic chemistry. During its time on the moon, it will fly to different locations every Titan day (equivalent to 16 Earth days) to conduct observations and experiments.

Wishing you clear skies and open minds.

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