NASA Study: Titan Could Fuel Future Space Missions

The idea depends on using local materials instead of carrying everything from Earth. Most such research has focused on the Moon and Mars, but Nixon's team — which included engineers from two American universities — argues that Titan has been unfairly ignored. On those closer worlds, methane is scarce; Titan instead offers raw materials that could be turned into rocket fuel, plastics, fertiliser and even food. Its water, which makes up about half the moon's mass, could supply drinking water, oxygen and hydrogen fuel. The researchers suggest Saturn's moons could become the "Persian Gulf" of the solar system.

Serious problems remain. The surface is cold, averaging minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit, the air pressure is about 50 percent higher than Earth's, and gravity is only one-seventh as strong. Oxygen is missing from the air and would have to be made artificially, while reaching Titan quickly would need nuclear-powered spacecraft. The authors stress that no current or planned mission, including NASA's Dragonfly aircraft due to launch around 2028, will need Titan's resources. Yet they believe future missions eventually will. "There is simply no other world that we know of like Titan," Nixon said.