TITAN AND THE ORIGIN OF LIFE ON EARTH

The relevance of Titan to the study of pre-biotic chemistry and the or igin of life on Earth will be addressed by an interdisciplinary group of Cassini/Huygens scientists using the different, but synergistic, da ta sets obtained by NASA's Cassini Orbiter and ESA's Huygens Probe. Ti tan's special importance lies in the primitive, chemically-reducing na ture of its atmosphere. Cassini/Huygens instruments will determine wha t compounds form in this environment, and the results will be compared with models for pre-biological chemical evolution on Earth.