Ralph Lorenz
Assistant Research Scientist
Lunar and Planetary Lab, University of Arizona


Talk Title: "Cassini-Huygens: Lifting Titan's Veil"

Abstract
Saturn's giant moon Titan is set to rival Mars as a target of planetary exploration. Between Mars and Mercury in size, this icy moon is unique in having a thick nitrogen atmosphere laden with organic chemicals, and a presently active hydrological cycle with clouds, rain and at least ephemeral rivers and lakes with methane as a working fluid. Titan's rich organic environment may also yield clues into how evolving complexity in chemical systems can ultimately yield living things.

Our understanding of Titan has advanced dramatically with new telescopic techniques, and in particular by the arrival of the NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens mission at Saturn. The dramatic descent of the Huygens probe to Titan's surface took place in January this year, but the survey of Titan as a whole has only just begun, with Cassini having made only 6 of some 45 planned flybys. In this talk I'll review what we know about this exotic world, and why it is important for Earth science, planetology and astrobiology.

Biographical Sketch
Ralph Lorenz has a B.Eng in Aerospace Systems Engineering from Southampton (UK) and a PhD in Physics from the University of Kent (UK). He worked as an engineer for the European Space Agency on the early design of the Huygens probe and as a graduate student designed and built part of its instrumentation. Since 1994 he has worked as a planetary
scientist at the Lunar and Planetary Lab, University of Arizona, with interests in Titan, Mars, planetary climate, nonequlibrium thermodynamics and aerospace. He is co-author of the books 'Lifting Titan's Veil' and 'Space Systems Failures'.

URL: http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~rlorenz

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