Europa VS Titan

[Plat]

Which moon has the better chance of being the secondary home for us humans in the far, far future?

[archman]

Which moon has the better chance of being the secondary home for us humans in the far, far future?

Neither. I'd say our moon. Much closer.

[Plat]

Oh crap, I totally forgot about the moon....lol

[frogesque]

Oh crap, I totally forgot about the moon....lol

ROFL. Well I would have to say our moon is closer but Mars has more potential resources. Titan et al are interesting but how could you use the interenet with a 10+ hour delay in posting to BABB then a 10+ hour wait to see if there's a response. I mean, normal life would be impossible.

[Plat]

Of course life would adjust....the planet cant adjust but the inhabitants can

[Ilya]

If by "far far future" you mean "when Sun expands into red giant and Earth is incinerated" then the answer is Titan. Jupiter will be still too close to the Sun -- ices of Europa and other Jupiter's moons will melt and boil. Titan, OTOH, will become a tropical paradise for a hundred million years or so that Sun will stay in red giant phase.

[Makgraf]

Oh crap, I totally forgot about the moon....lol

ROFL. Well I would have to say our moon is closer but Mars has more potential resources. Titan et al are interesting but how could you use the interenet with a 10+ hour delay in posting to BABB then a 10+ hour wait to see if there's a response. I mean, normal life would be impossible.
Hmm... this is a bit OT but in the future do you think we'll see the developement of planetary internets? So there'll be an Terran Internet, an Lunar internet etc? Or would you just have a lot of mirrored sites with a long delay for interplanetary access?

[Plat]

Im guessing by that time we have discovered alien species or more probably they have discovered us....so life will be TOTALLY different, the internet would probably so much different by then

[Evil_Bomber]

Hmm... this is a bit OT but in the future do you think we'll see the developement of planetary internets? So there'll be an Terran Internet, an Lunar internet etc? Or would you just have a lot of mirrored sites with a long delay for interplanetary access?

We'd better get away from IPv4 by then, I don't think NAT translation will stretch that far :)

[Mr. Milton Banana]

If by "far far future" you mean "when Sun expands into red giant and Earth is incinerated" then the answer is Titan. Jupiter will be still too close to the Sun -- ices of Europa and other Jupiter's moons will melt and boil. Titan, OTOH, will become a tropical paradise for a hundred million years or so that Sun will stay in red giant phase.

Um...isn't it more likely that Titan will become like Mars?

Mars is 1,000 miles in diameter larger, and its atmosphere is VERY thin. When the sun becomes a red giant, most of Titan's atmosphere will disappear, due to the added heat.

It will become the way Mars is now-at least, that's my guess.

[Ilya]

If by "far far future" you mean "when Sun expands into red giant and Earth is incinerated" then the answer is Titan. Jupiter will be still too close to the Sun -- ices of Europa and other Jupiter's moons will melt and boil. Titan, OTOH, will become a tropical paradise for a hundred million years or so that Sun will stay in red giant phase.

Um...isn't it more likely that Titan will become like Mars?

Mars is 1,000 miles in diameter larger, and its atmosphere is VERY thin. When the sun becomes a red giant, most of Titan's atmosphere will disappear, due to the added heat.

It will become the way Mars is now-at least, that's my guess.

Eventually, yes... but it will take a LONG time. Just like it took a long time for Mars to become what it is now. Quite possibly longer than Sun's red giant phase will last. BTW, most planetary scientists believe Mars lost its atmosphere not just through molecules escaping into space, but also through "explosive blowoff" -- asteroid and comet impacts on Mars remove air as opposed to adding to it which they do on Earth with its higher gravity. Over billions of years, they removed pretty much all of it. If humanity's descendants have enough technology to settle Titan, they will have the capability to divert dangerous comets.

[ZaphodBeeblebrox]

If by "far far future" you mean "when Sun expands into red giant and Earth is incinerated" then the answer is Titan. Jupiter will be still too close to the Sun -- ices of Europa and other Jupiter's moons will melt and boil. Titan, OTOH, will become a tropical paradise for a hundred million years or so that Sun will stay in red giant phase.

Um...isn't it more likely that Titan will become like Mars?

Mars is 1,000 miles in diameter larger, and its atmosphere is VERY thin. When the sun becomes a red giant, most of Titan's atmosphere will disappear, due to the added heat.

It will become the way Mars is now-at least, that's my guess.

Eventually, yes... but it will take a LONG time. Just like it took a long time for Mars to become what it is now. Quite possibly longer than Sun's red giant phase will last. BTW, most planetary scientists believe Mars lost its atmosphere not just through molecules escaping into space, but also through "explosive blowoff" -- asteroid and comet impacts on Mars remove air as opposed to adding to it which they do on Earth with its higher gravity. Over billions of years, they removed pretty much all of it. If humanity's descendants have enough technology to settle Titan, they will have the capability to divert dangerous comets.

Not only that, but Titan is MUCH More like Earth, in that Regard.

Impactors get Deflected by Saturn, before they get a Chance, to Hit Titan.

[Doodler]

My vote's in for Titan, Europa gets too much radiation off of Jupiter now for human safety. I sincerely doubt a couple billion years will see that change much.

[V-GER]

I once saw a documentary about the earth's future. According to it we could move further from the sun as it expands in the far future; first
a few million years on Mars, then the same on Europa(under its sea no less). Didn't mention Titan but if we could live under an extra terrestrial
ocean, why not on Titan.

The time we have left here on earth of course varies depending on which scientist you listen but if we think of the shortest time span I've heard-
100 million years- I think we would be able to move the whole planet to
a safer orbit by then.

[the_shaggy_one]

My vote's in for Titan, Europa gets too much radiation off of Jupiter now for human safety. I sincerely doubt a couple billion years will see that change much.

I seem to remember that water (and ice) is an excellent radiation shield. Under 10 km of ice, we'd probably be better protected from radiation than we are here on earth. Not to mention that by the time we get to the point of colonizing Europa, we may be able to create an artificial magnetic field of planetary strength, which would protect us from a lot of the radiation out there.

[George]

My vote's in for Titan, Europa gets too much radiation off of Jupiter now for human safety.

Harmful radiation?

I'll vote for Europa as there is a fair chance for liquid water below all that ice.

[Plat]

Will Titan really become a tropical paradis like that one guy said?