The Potential of Titan: Igniting Methane Oceans for Photosynthesis

[Drakkith]

You also missed the point like a few others... I'm not asking whether or not you can get fuel from the planet; only wondering if it's possible to convert methane into other chemicals on Titan.

Except that you are asking if you can get fuel from the planet. That is exactly what you are suggesting in post #3.

As far as I understand, there is already some oxygen on Titan, at least in the form of ice and ammonia under the surface near the poles. If there was enough oxygen to ignite even one small area, the byproduct would be more water and CO2, which makes more oxygen available to fuel more combustion. It's also possible that with a small amount of water, electrolysis from lightning storms in the newly created CO2 atmosphere could release O2 molecules directly from the water, which would quickly turn the planet into a mostly flammable, hellish world.

Whether that's what you meant to ask, or whether you've changed your question since then is another story. Clarity is important if you want to avoid situations like this.

Yeah because photosynthesis didn't spontaneously emerge on Earth right?

Like the rest of your questions, the one regarding photosynthesis is also unclear. Photosynthesis emerged as a product of the evolution of life here on Earth. Are you asking if life could spontaneously arise on Titan and then evolve photosynthesis like it did here on Earth?

 

[russ_watters]

This thread needs to get less idly speculative.

 

[Ophiolite]

Yeah because photosynthesis didn't spontaneously emerge on Earth right?

The Earth formed 4.54 billion years ago. The first evidence for life is found around 3.8 billion years ago, 700 million years after the formation of the planet - that's a span of time greater than that between the Cambrian explosion and the present. That evidence is disputed and the gap may be a couple of hundred million years longer than that. I don't think it is helpful to describe the complex sequences and interplays of structural, metabolic and heritable developments that led to life, over such a time period, as spontaneous.

Genetic, geochemical and paleontological data suggest that photosynthetic organisms arose later than the first life, again tens, or hundreds of millions of years later. Your implication was that these organisms would arise almost immediately and automatically. That is what puzzled me in your statements, for it is not the case.

 

[bennyschmidt]

Except that you are asking if you can get fuel from the planet. That is exactly what you are suggesting in post #3. Whether that's what you meant to ask, or whether you've changed your question since then is another story. Clarity is important if you want to avoid situations like this. Like the rest of your questions, the one regarding photosynthesis is also unclear. Photosynthesis emerged as a product of the evolution of life here on Earth. Are you asking if life could spontaneously arise on Titan and then evolve photosynthesis like it did here on Earth?

What is the purpose of your reply? I don't think the original question was unclear, I think some people made false assumptions early on about what I was implying with the question, when really I'm just curious about if it's possible. Another reason I explained more in newer comments rather than edit the original is because this forum does not allow you to edit things after a certain amount of time it seems. So when people ask about a detail (or make assumptions about something I said), I can't go back and clarify. I have to add another comment, turning it into a longer thread than it needs to be.

 

[rootone]

The underlying question seems to be 'Is it possible to terraform Titan in a manner that would lead to life emerging?
Well 'terraforming' could be done in a number of ways, including as Bandersnatch mentioned, some kind of as yet undiscovered method of nuclear transformation.
Would this lead to the spontaneous generation of life?.
That is unknown, since we only have a sample of one planet where it's certain that life did emerge, and we are very far from certain how that happened.
If somehow the terraformed Titan was dragged into 'the goldilocks zone' where water could exist as a liquid, it could plausibly become habitable, even if it didn't generate it's own life.
No way to say what would be the eventual outcome, it could equally end up in a state similar to Venus, or many other states.

None of anything you suggested is remotely possible from the point of view of feasible engineering, and energy requirement though.