Space boat to explore sea on Titan

The surface of Titan

Scientists are to build the first extraterrestrial boat to be sent to Titan - Saturn's largest moon - to explore the celestial body.

Space engineers intend to launch the robot ship towards Titan and parachute it into the Lgaeia Mare, a sea of ethane and methane on the surface of Saturn, reported The Guardian.

The extraterrestrial craft is to sail around the sea on Titan for a few months to gather data and examine the winds and waves there.

Funded by NASA, this is the first mission to explore a sea in outer space and can offer clues on organic chemicals which are the initial building blocks of life.

Methane, a chemical compound found in the form of gas on Earth, is believed to act as a liquid on Titan due to its extreme cold weather. The compound is affected by ultraviolet radiation from the Sun to form complex hydrocarbons that fall back to the surface slowly in the form of petrochemical rain.

The petrochemical rain then becomes rivers which wash down valleys and form lakes and seas, mapped recently during robotic space probes.

Moreover, Titan is believed to have an ocean of water deep underground. Complex organic chemicals on its surface, evolved in relatively warm waters beneath Titan's surface, could be dripping down through fissures and cracks.