Under the Moons of Mars


Vast regions of dark dunes also extend across Titan's exotic landscape, especially around its equatorial regions. Unlike Earth's sand, the "sand" that creates Titan's dunes is composed of dark grains of hydrocarbon that resemble coffee grounds. The tall linear dunes of this misty moisty moon-world appear to be quite similar to those seen in the desert of Namibia in Africa. Because Titan's surface is pockmarked by relatively few impact craters, its surface is considered to be quite young. Older surfaces display heavier cratering than more youthful surfaces, whose craters have been "erased" by resurfacing. This resurfacing is caused by processes that cover the scars left by old impacts as time goes by. Our own planet is similar to Titan in this respect. The craters of Earth are erased by the ongoing processes of flowing liquid (water on Earth), powerful winds, and the recycling of Earth's crust as a result of plate-tectonics. These processes also occur on Titan, but in modified forms. In particular, the shifting of the ground resulting from pressures coming from beneath (plate tectonics), also appear to be at work on this veiled moon-world. However, planetary scientists have not seen signs of plates on Titan that are analogous to those of our own planet. Were you aware of the fact that the moon has a huge impact on fishing? I used to find this hard to believe, but it's true. And you don't have to be a rocket scientist to understand how the moon and fishing fit together. As a matter of fact, by spending about a half an hour educating yourself can pay huge dividends in not only the amount of fish that you catch, but also the size of those fish. All because of the moon, who would have thought? "If there are plumes on Europa, as we now strongly suspect, with the Europa Clipper we will be ready for them," commented Dr. Jim Green in the April 13, 2017 NASA Press Release. Dr. Green is Director of Planetary Science at NASA Headquarters.