Titan: A Place Like Home?
Original title: Titan: A Place Like Home?
Duration: 49’
Producer: Paul Olding
Director: Paul Olding
Participant: Paul Olding
Company: BBC
Scientific field: Astronomy / Biology
Year: 2005
Country: UK
Over a billion kilometres from our planet, Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, may hold tantalising
clues to how life began, here on Earth. On January 14th 2005, the European built Huygens
probe was finally sent plummeting down to the surface of Titan. After a long voyage across
the solar system, scientists had just 2 1⁄2 nail-biting hours to collect as much data as possible
on this smog-shrouded alien world. Surviving a fiery entry and with its parachutes safely
deployed, Huygens made a textbook landing. Titan was finally revealed as a place that does
indeed look a lot like home. But on Titan, the surface is made of solid ice, river channels are
grounded by liquid methane rain, and volcanoes belch out subzero liquid water.
Titan: A Place Like Home? 
