Keck Institute for Space Studies - Audio

Titan, the moon of Saturn with a thick atmosphere and liquid hydrocarbon lakes, is considered the best target in the solar system for the study of organic chemistry on a planetary scale. Solar radiation and energetic particles activate methane and nitrogen in the atmosphere of Titan, which react to form complex organic aerosols. Dr. Cable describes how we can use lab on a chip technologies to tease apart these complex organic mixtures and identify key species (June 19, 2013).