President Trump signed a policy directive for NASA to "refocus America's space program on human exploration and discovery." He said the move "marks a first step in returning American astronauts to the Moon for the first time since 1972."
The most complete map to date of Saturn’s moon Titan reveals a mountainous world with a network of liquid methane and ethane lakes and seas connected by underground rivers, writes Lisa Grossman for Science News. Scientists already knew that Titan had something like Earth’s water cycle, but with methane. This is the latest finding from the Cassini mission to show the startling geological complexity of the hazy, gassy moon.
Why it matters: Scientists are very interested in Titan’s geology because they believe the hydrocarbon-rich planet has the potential to support some form of life. An interconnected water system, like the one on Earth, could influence the way any such life would develop. “Looking for actual evidence that the lakes could be communicating was a fundamental question from Cassini,” study coauthor Alexander Hayes tells Grossman, “This is the final paper that gives the best evidence that it exists.”
