What Saturn's most mysterious moon could teach us about the origins of life | Elizabeth Turtle

Prevodilac: Ivana Korom Lektor: Aleksandar Korom

Picture a world with a variety of landforms.

Zamislite svet sa raznim reljefnim oblicima.

It has a dense atmosphere

Ima gustu atmosferu

within which winds sweep across its surface

u kojoj vetrovi krstare na površini

and rain falls.

i kiše padaju.

It has mountains and plains,

Ima planine i ravnice,

rivers, lakes and seas,

reke, jezera, i mora,

sand dunes and some impact craters.

peščane dine i kratere.

Sounds like Earth, right?

Zvuči kao Zemlja, zar ne?

This is Titan.

Ovo je Titan.

In August 1981,

U avgustu 1981,

Voyager 2 captured this image of Saturn's largest moon.

Vojadžer 2 je uhvatio ovaj kadar Saturnovog najvećeg meseca.

The Voyager missions have traveled farther than ever before,

Misije Vojadžera putuju dalje nego ikada do sada,

making the solar system and beyond

čineći solarni sistem i van njega

part of our geography.

delom naše geografije.

But this image, this hazy moon

Ali ova slika, ovaj maglovit mesec

was a stark reminder of just how much mystery remained.

je pravi podsetnik koliko je misterije ostalo.

We learned an exponential amount as the Voyagers flew by it,

Otkrili smo mnogi toga dok je Vojadžer prolazio pored,

and yet we had no idea what lay beneath this atmospheric blanket.

a ipak nemamo predstavu šta leži ispod ovog atmosferskog pokrivača.

Was there an icy surface with landforms like those of the other moons

Da li je tamo ledena površina sa istim reljefom kao na drugim mesecima

that had been observed at Saturn and Jupiter?

koji su opaženi na Saturnu i Jupteru?

Or perhaps simply a vast global ocean of liquid methane?

Ili možda samo ogroman okean tečnog metana?

Shrouded by the obscuring haze,

Ogrnuta gustom maglom,

Titan's surface was a huge, outstanding mystery

Titanova površina je bila velika, nerešena misterija

that Cassini-Huygens, an orbiter lander pair launched in 1997,

za koju su Kasini-Hajgens, par orbitera i lendera lansiranih 1997,

was designed to solve.

napravljeni da bi je odgonetnuli.

After arrival in 2004,

Posle spuštanja u 2004,

the early images Cassini sent back of Titan's surface

rane slike Titanove površine koje je Kasini poslao

only heightened the allure.

samo su pojačale interesovanje.

It took months for us to understand what we were seeing on the surface,

Mesecima nam je trebalo da razumemo ono što vidimo na površini.

to determine, for example,

Da odredimo, na primer,

that the dark stripes,

da su tamne pruge,

which were initially so unrecognizable that we referred to them as cat scratches,

koje su prvo bile toliko neprepoznatljive da smo ih nazivali mačjim ogrebotinama,

were actually dunes made of organic sand.

bile u stvari dine od organskog peska.

Over the course of the 13 years Cassini spent studying Saturn

U periodu od 13 godina, Kasini je proučavao Saturn

and its rings and moons,

i njegove prstenove i mesece.

we had the privilege

Mi smo imali privilegiju

of going from knowing almost nothing about the surface of Titan

da počev od skoro nikakvog znanja o površini Titana,

to understanding its geology,

dođemo do razumevanja njegove geologije,

the role the atmosphere plays in shaping its surface,

uloge koju atmosfera igra u oblikovanju njegove površine,

and even hints of what lies deep beneath that surface.

čak i nagoveštaje onoga što leži duboko ispod površine.

Indeed, Titan is one of several ocean worlds,

Zaista, Titan je jedan od nekoliko nebeskih okeana,

moons in the cold outer solar system

satelita u hladnom delu solarnog sistema

beyond the orbits of Mars and the asteroid belt

van orbite Marsa i pojasa asteroida

with immense liquid water oceans beneath their surfaces.

sa ogromnim okeanima tekuće vode ispod površine.

Titan's interior ocean may have more than 10 times as much liquid water

Titanov unutarnji okean možda ima više od deset puta tekuće vode

as all of the Earth's rivers, lakes, seas and oceans combined.

nego sve reke, jezera, mora, i okeani na Zemlji.

And at Titan, there are also exotic lakes and seas

Na Titanu postoje isto tako egzotična jezera i mora

of liquid methane and ethane on the surface.

tečnog metana i etana.

Ocean worlds are some of the most fascinating places

Nebeski okeani su neki od najviše očaravajućih mesta

in the solar system,

u sunčevom sistemu,

and we have only just begun to explore them.

a tek smo počeli da ih istražujemo.

This is Dragonfly.

Ovo je Dragonflaj (Vilin konjic).

At the Johns Hopkins Applied Physics Laboratory,

U Džon Hopkinsovoj laboratoriji primenjene fizike,

we're building this mission for NASA's new Frontiers program.

radimo na misiji za nov Nasin program Granice.

Scheduled to launch in 2026 and reach Titan in 2034,

Planirano je lansiranje 2026. i dolazak do Titana 2034.

Dragonfly is a rotorcraft lander,

Dragonflaj je lender rotokopter,

similar in size to the Mars rovers or about the size of a small car.

iste veličine kao Marsovi roveri ili veličine manjeg auta.

Titan's dense atmosphere, combined with its low gravity,

Titanova gusta atmosfera u kombinaciji sa niskom gravitacijom

make it a great place to fly,

je sjajno mesto za letenje,

and that's exactly what Dragonfly is designed to do.

i to je upravo ono za šta je Dragonflaj napravljen.

Technically an octocopter,

Tehnički oktokopter,

Dragonfly is a mobile laboratory that can fly from place to place

Dragonflaj je mobilna laboratorija koja može da leti od mesta do mesta

taking all of its scientific instruments with it.

noseći sa sobom sve naučne instrumente.

Dragonfly will investigate Titan in a truly unique way,

Dragonflaj će istraživati Titan na zaista jedinstven način,

studying details of its weather and geology,

proučavajući vreme i geologiju,

and even picking up samples from the surface

i čak će sakupljati uzorke sa površine

to learn what they're made of.

da bismo naučili od čega su sastavljeni.

All told, Dragonfly will spend about three years exploring Titan,

Sve u svemu, Dragonflaj će provesti oko tri godine istražujući Titan,

measuring its detailed chemistry,

proučavajući njegovu složenu hemiju,

observing the atmosphere and how it interacts with the surface,

posmatrajući atmosferu i kako reaguje sa površinom.

and even listening for earthquakes,

i čak osluškujući zemljotrese,

or technically titanquakes, in Titan's crust.

ili tehnički titantrese, u Titanovoj kori.

The Dragonfly team,

Tim Dragonflaja,

hundreds of people across North America and around the world,

na stotine ljudi širom Severne Amerike i celog sveta,

is hard at work on the design for this mission,

vredno radi na planu ove misije,

developing the rotorcraft, its autonomous navigation system

unapređuju rotokopter, njegov nezavistan navigacioni sistem.

and its instrumentation,

i njegove instrumente,

all of which will need to work together to make science measurements

koji će svi morati da rade zajedno prilikom naučnih merenja

on the surface of Titan.

na površini Titana.

Dragonfly is the next step in our exploration

Dragonflaj je sledeći korak u našem istraživanju

of this fascinating natural laboratory.

ove fascinantne prirodne laboratorije.

In flying by, Voyager hinted at the possibilities.

U prolasku, Vojadžer je nagovestio mogućnosti.

In orbiting Saturn for over a decade

Prilikom orbitiranja oko Saturna više od decenije

and descending through Titan's atmosphere,

i spuštanju kroz atmosferu Titana,

Cassini and Huygens pulled Titan's veil back a bit further.

Kasini i Hajgens su otkrili Titanove zastore još više.

Dragonfly will live in the Titan environment,

Dragonflaj će živeti u Titanovoj sredini,

where, so far, our only close-up view

gde, do sada, naš jedini blizak susret

is this image the Huygens probe took in January 2005.

je ova slika koju je Hajgensova sonda napravila u Januaru 2005.

In many ways, Titan is the closest known analogue we have to the early Earth,

Na mnogo načina, Titan je najbliža poznata analogija ranoj Zemlji.

the Earth before life developed here.

Zemlji pre razvitka života.

From Cassini-Huygens' measurements,

Od Kasini-Hajgens merenja,

we know that the ingredients for life,

znamo da sastojci života,

at least life as we know it,

bar života kakvog poznajemo,

have existed on Titan,

postoje na Titanu,

and Dragonfly will be fully immersed within this alien environment,

i Dragonflaj će biti potpuno uronjen u ovu stranu sredinu,

looking for compounds similar to those

tražeći jedinjenja ista kao ona

that might have supported the development of life here on Earth

koja su možda podržavala razvitak života na Zemlji

and teaching us about the habitability of other worlds.

i učeći nas o nastanjivosti drugih svetova.

Habitability is a fascinating concept.

Nastanjivost je sjajan koncept.

What's necessary to make an environment suitable to host life,

Šta je neophodno da bi sredina bila prilagodljiva životu,

whether life as we know it here on Earth,

bilo životu kojeg mi poznajemo na Zemlji,

or perhaps exotic life that has developed under very different conditions?

ili možda egzotičnom životu koji se razvio pod veoma drugačijim okolnostima?

The possibility of life elsewhere

Mogućnost života negde drugde

has inspired human imagination and exploration throughout history.

je inspirisala ljudsku maštu i istraživanja tokom istorije.

On a grand scale,

Na velikom planu,

it's why the ocean worlds in the outer solar system

to je razlog zašto su planete okeani u spoljašnjem sunčevom sistemu

have become such important targets for study.

postali tako bitni ciljevi istraživanja.

It's the "what if" that drives human exploration.

"Šta ako" vodi istraživanja ljudi.

We don't know how chemistry took the step to biology here on Earth,

Ne znamo kako je hemija prišla biologiji ovde na Zemlji,

but similar chemical processes may have happened on Titan,

ali isti hemijski procesi su se možda desili na Titanu,

where organic molecules have had the opportunity

gde su organski molekuli imali priliku

to mix with liquid water at the surface.

da se mešaju sa tekućom vodom na površini.

Has organic synthesis progressed under these conditions?

Da li je organska sinteza napredovala pod ovim uslovima?

And if so, how far?

I ako jeste, dokle?

We don't know ... yet.

Ne znamo... još uvek.

What we will learn from Dragonfly, this fundamentally human endeavor,

Ono što ćemo naučiti od Dragonflaja, ovog fundamentalnog ljudskog napora,

is tantalizing.

je uzbudljivo.

It's a search for building blocks, foundations, chemical steps

To je potraga za gradivnim blokovima, temeljima, hemijskim vezama

like those that ultimately led to life on Earth.

kao one koje su konačno dovele do života na zemlji.

We're not sure exactly what we will find when we get to Titan,

Još uvek nismo sigurni šta ćemo naći kada stignemo do Titana,

but that's exactly why we're going.

ali to je baš i razlog zbog kojeg idemo.

In 1994, Carl Sagan wrote,

Godine 1994, Karl Sagan je napisao

"On Titan, the molecules that have been raining down

"Na Titanu, molekuli koji padaju

like manna from heaven for the last four billion years

kao mana sa neba u poslednjih četiri milijarde godina,

might still be there,

su možda još uvek tamo,

largely unaltered, deep-frozen, awaiting the chemists from Earth."

prilično neizmenjeni, duboko zaleđeni, čekaju hemičare sa Zemlje."

We are those chemists.

Mi smo ti hemičari.

Dragonfly is a search for greater understanding,

Dragonflaj je potraga za većim znanjem

not just of Titan and the mysteries of our solar system,

ne samo Titana i misterija našeg solarnog sistema

but of our own origins.

već našeg porekla.

Thank you.

Hvala vam.