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== The Prebiotic-Abiotic Controversy ==

== The Prebiotic-Abiotic Controversy ==

Before the launch of the [[Cassini-Huygens mission]] (see below), speculation on whether Titan had the required elements for [[abiogenesis]] were rife.<ref name=solarviews/> Specifically, scientists believed that the [[methane]] in Titan's atmosphere would combine photochemically to yield [[ethane]], [[ethylene]] (ethene), [[acetylene]] (ethyne), and hydrogen [[cyanide]], and thus form [[amino acid]]s.<ref name=solarviews/><ref name=nasa2/>

Before the launch of the [[Cassini-Huygens mission]] (see below), speculations on whether Titan had the required elements for [[abiogenesis]] were rife.<ref name=solarviews/> Specifically, scientists believed that the [[methane]] in Titan's atmosphere would combine photochemically to yield [[ethane]], [[ethylene]] (ethene), [[acetylene]] (ethyne), and hydrogen [[cyanide]], and thus form [[amino acid]]s.<ref name=solarviews/><ref name=nasa2/>

The Huygens lander has thus far found no biological process, though it has found the suspected constituents, and more. But gas-chromatograph mass spectrophotometric findings have also shown that the bulk of the methane on Titan is actually ¹³C methane--not the ¹²C methane that one would normally expect from biological processes.<ref name=Goddard>"[http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18410 Titan's Mysterious Methane Comes From Inside, Not The Surface]." Press release, [[Goddard Space Flight Center]], [[NASA]], November 30, 2005. Accessed February 16, 2008, from <http://www.spaceref.com/></ref> Scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center conclude that this methane is vented to the surface from a supply that was somehow trapped deep beneath the surface when Titan was formed. Furthermore, this lends further support to Thomas Gold's 1998 hypothesis that Earth's own supplies of oil and natural gas are in fact abiotic in origin.<ref name=Corsi2>"[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47675 'Fossil fuel' theory takes hit with NASA finding]." ''WorldNetDaily'', December 1, 2005. Accessed February 16, 2008.</ref>

The Huygens lander has thus far found no biological process, though it has found the suspected constituents, and more. But gas-chromatograph mass spectrophotometric findings have also shown that the bulk of the methane on Titan is actually ¹³C methane--not the ¹²C methane that one would normally expect from biological processes.<ref name=Goddard>"[http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=18410 Titan's Mysterious Methane Comes From Inside, Not The Surface]." Press release, [[Goddard Space Flight Center]], [[NASA]], November 30, 2005. Accessed February 16, 2008, from <http://www.spaceref.com/></ref> Scientists at the Goddard Space Flight Center conclude that this methane is vented to the surface from a supply that was somehow trapped deep beneath the surface when Titan was formed. Furthermore, this lends further support to Thomas Gold's 1998 hypothesis that Earth's own supplies of oil and natural gas are in fact abiotic in origin.<ref name=Corsi2>"[http://www.worldnetdaily.com/news/article.asp?ARTICLE_ID=47675 'Fossil fuel' theory takes hit with NASA finding]." ''WorldNetDaily'', December 1, 2005. Accessed February 16, 2008.</ref>