Happy Discovery Day to Discoverer of Saturn’s Moon Titan

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Congratulations

On March 25, 1655, Saturn’s moon Titan was discovered by the Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens. Titan is the largest moon of Saturn and it was the first of 62 moons to be found orbiting Saturn. space.com

Titan is a fascinating moon. It is the only body aside from Earth with a thick atmosphere and liquid lakes or seas on its surface.

The atmosphere is nearly all nitrogen with some hydrocarbons, and the liquid is methane and ethane, so Titan isn’t very hospitable. With gravity similar to our own Moon, any human visitor would have to worry about bones and muscles wasting away, too. But between a thick atmosphere and Saturn’s expansive magnetic field, cosmic radiation would be less of a worry than on Mars. Besides, who can resist this possibility:

The very high ratio of atmospheric density to surface gravity also greatly reduces the wingspan needed for an aircraft to maintain lift, so much so that a human would be able to strap on wings and easily fly through Titan’s atmosphere while wearing a sort of spacesuit that could be manufactured with today’s technology. wikipedia

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From the Huygens lander

The surface isn’t very pretty, as our first image from a lander shows. And while Saturn would be an amazing sight to see, filling the sky, it may be blotted out by haze and clouds.

Still… what do you think? Good place for a science fiction colony? I’m considering that for my next book. Why would anyone in their right mind want to colonize Titan? Maybe I’ll figure out a reason.