Have you ever thought about surfing on an alien world?
We can now expand the search for the
perfect wave from Earth to the rest of the Solar System, and
beyond.
Scientists have developed a new model for simulating
waves on
other planets.
Titan is one of the 274 confirmed
moons of
Saturn to date, and the only object in the solar system (besides Earth) known to have liquid lakes and seas on its surface.
The
featured video shows a
simulation of waves on Earth (right) and on Titan (left), under the same conditions (the scale marker is in meters).
A light breeze would create taller, slower-moving waves on Titan than on Earth, because the
lakes there are filled with light liquid
hydrocarbons, and because of Titan's low gravity and higher atmospheric pressure.
In a couple of years,
NASA expects to launch the
Dragonfly mission, which will travel for 6 years and send a
rotorcraft to explore Titan and study its
microbial habitability.