Fundamental science and engineering questions in planetary cave exploration

JJ Wynne, TN Titus… - Journal of …, 2022 - Wiley Online Library
Nearly half a century ago, two papers postulated the likelihood of lunar lava tube caves
using mathematical models. Today, armed with an array of orbiting and fly‐by satellites and …

Titan in a test tube: Organic co-crystals and implications for Titan mineralogy

ML Cable, T Runčevski… - Accounts of Chemical …, 2021 - ACS Publications
Conspectus In this Account, we highlight recent work in the developing field of mineralogy of
Saturn's moon Titan, focusing on binary co-crystals of small organic molecules. Titan has a …

A roadmap for planetary caves science and exploration

TN Titus, JJ Wynne, MJ Malaska… - Nature …, 2021 - nature.com
To the Editor—2021 is the International Year of Caves and Karst. To honour this occasion,
we wish to emphasize the vast potential embodied in planetary subsurfaces. While …

Planetary caves: A solar system view of processes and products

JJ Wynne, JE Mylroie, TN Titus… - Journal of …, 2022 - Wiley Online Library
We provide the first solar system wide compendium of speleogenic processes and products.
An examination of 15 solar system bodies revealed that six cave‐forming processes occur …

The role of seasonal sediment transport and sintering in shaping Titan's landscapes: A hypothesis

MGA Lapôtre, MJ Malaska… - Geophysical Research …, 2022 - Wiley Online Library
Titan is a sedimentary world, with lakes, rivers, canyons, fans, dissected plateaux, and sand
dunes. Sediments on Saturn's moon are thought to largely consist of mechanically weak …

Modeling the formation of Menrva impact crater on Titan: Implications for habitability

AP Crósta, EA Silber, RMC Lopes, BC Johnson… - Icarus, 2021 - Elsevier
Titan is unique in the solar system: it is an ocean world, an icy world, an organic world, and
has a dense atmosphere. It is a geologically active world as well, with ongoing exogenic …

Potential caves: Inventory of subsurface access points on the surface of Titan

MJ Malaska, A Schoenfeld, JJ Wynne… - Journal of …, 2022 - Wiley Online Library
We propose that cycling hydrocarbon rains on Saturn's moon Titan are likely to create
subsurface conduits through dissolution geology of the extensive organic and largely …

A co-crystal between acetylene and butane: A potentially ubiquitous molecular mineral on Titan

ML Cable, TH Vu, MJ Malaska… - ACS Earth and Space …, 2019 - ACS Publications
Titan hosts a complex chemical engine producing a rich inventory of organic molecules in its
thick atmosphere and on its surface. Some of these organics may be deposited in the liquid …

Detailed chemical composition analysis of the Soi crater region on Titan

A Solomonidou, MJ Malaska, RMC Lopes, A Coustenis… - Icarus, 2024 - Elsevier
The Soi crater region (0° to 60° N, 180° W to− 110° W), which includes the well-preserved
Soi crater in its center, spans a region from Titan's aeolian-dominated equatorial regions to …

Properties and behavior of the acetonitrile–acetylene co-crystal under Titan surface conditions

ML Cable, TH Vu, MJ Malaska… - ACS Earth and Space …, 2020 - ACS Publications
Titan, the largest satellite of Saturn, possesses a complex photochemical cycle producing a
broad inventory of organic molecules in its thick atmosphere and on its surface. Two of the …