Keck Institute for Space Studies Fellows Lecture

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 will describe how we can use lab on a chip technologies to tease apart these complex organic mixtures and identify key species.  This work represents a significant first step in understanding Titan aerosols from a chemistry perspective, and can aid atmospheric models of this intriguing moon.