NASA's Cassini discovers liquid water on Saturn's moon Titan

The journal "Science" reported on June 28, 2012, that NASA's Cassini spacecraft has discovered layers of liquid water under the ice shell of Saturn's moon Titan.

When the measurements were compiled from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, known for passing Titan six times from 2004 to 2011, the Università La Sapienza scientists in Rome, Italy, found that Titan possesses both liquid hydrocarbons and water. “The presence of water does not imply life,” explained Luciano in RT.com. “But Titan has many interesting ingredients – hydrocarbons, a hydrological cycle and a thick atmosphere.” The importance of water has involved an ongoing search that has cost billions of dollars, demonstrating to scientists that water is not only present on earth but prevalent throughout the universe. NASA's scientists view water as life's most important chemical substance, making the search for water vital to sustain all life forms. The current find of water on Saturn's moon Titan is not only important in finding life on Titan, but vital for the upcoming space travelers. "Experts say hydrogen found in ice could be used to make fuel for space exploration and oxygen in water could provide air to explorers and even colonies," reports Space Water Found. Titan is a model for what earth might have been like, according to NASA scientists. And finding water on Titan drastically increases the possibility of life on the moon. Other planets have been found to have water deposits under layers of ice in the Solar System, such as Jupiter's Europa and Enceladus, another Saturn moon in addition to Titan. NASA is planning two research space missions in the 2020s: Titan Saturn System Mission and Europa Jupiter System Mission.