I've talked about Titan (one of Saturn's moons) here before as a possible place for non-Earth life in this solar system. Earth is a water-based biosystem, and the Earth exists at the tri-point of water — water simultaneously exists in solid, liquid, and gaseous form here. Titan on the other hand is at the tri-point of methane (an energy-rich organic substance); the surface has long been thought to be convered in methane lakes and methane icebergs, evaporating into methane gas — an ideal environment for life. Recent radar scans (more) confirm it… I have to admit I'm very much looking forward to seeing the results when ESA splashes down its Huygens probe in January of 2005.
Along those lines you may remember just over a year ago (more) when I mentioned the possibility of life on Venus as well (here's another link on that). In November of 2005 the Venus Express probe launches to investigate that further… These are exiting times to be alive — we're watching civilizations crumble, cultural and spiritual revolutions, and perhaps even mankind's solid realization that we are but a tiny piece of a gigantic living universe.
I'm sure things must have seemed exciting in the Renaissance as well, but I sure am glad I'm alive today. Of course, I'm pretty sure that by the time I'm a hundred I'll be wishing I'd been born seventy-five years later! Rachel says that all my recent photos make me look older than I actually look… Maybe I'm seventy-five already?
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