The Cassini spacecraft detects propylene, a chemical used to make everything from plastic bags to lab equipment, on Saturn's moon Titan. September 30, 2013 12:35 PM PDT Animation of the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn. (Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ Screenshot by CNET) Ready for some -- literally -- out of this world plastic? A chemical commonly used to make everything from food-storage containers to car bumpers has been detected on one of Saturn's moons. NASA revealed on Monday that the Cassini spacecraft detected propylene, a chemical ingredient of plastic, on Saturn's moon Titan. This is the first definitive detection of the chemical on any planet or moon, other than Earth, said NASA. "This chemical is all around us in everyday life, strung together in long chains to form a plastic called polypropylene," said Conor Nixon, a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement. "That plastic container at the grocery store with the recycling code 5 on the bottom -- that's polypropylene." Related stories NASA image captures folks the world over waving to Saturn Forget winter in Westeros, summer's coming to Titan NASA photos show Earth from vantage point of Saturn, Mercury Cassini was able to spot a small amount of propylene in Titan's lower atmosphere using its Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS), an instrument that measures infrared light and can "identify a particular gas glowing in the lower layers of the atmosphere from its unique thermal fingerprint." Propylene is the first molecule to be discovered on Titan using CIRS, said NASA, but it likely won't be the last. "This success boosts our confidence that we will find still more chemicals long hidden in Titan's atmosphere," said Michael Flasar, Goddard scientist and principal investigator for CIRS, in a statement. Find out more about propylene on Titan in the NASA video below:
The Cassini spacecraft detects propylene, a chemical used to make everything from plastic bags to lab equipment, on Saturn's moon Titan.
Animation of the Cassini spacecraft orbiting Saturn.
(Credit: NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center/ Screenshot by CNET)
Ready for some -- literally -- out of this world plastic? A chemical commonly used to make everything from food-storage containers to car bumpers has been detected on one of Saturn's moons.
NASA revealed on Monday that the Cassini spacecraft detected propylene, a chemical ingredient of plastic, on Saturn's moon Titan. This is the first definitive detection of the chemical on any planet or moon, other than Earth, said NASA.
"This chemical is all around us in everyday life, strung together in long chains to form a plastic called polypropylene," said Conor Nixon, a planetary scientist at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in a statement. "That plastic container at the grocery store with the recycling code 5 on the bottom -- that's polypropylene."
Related stories
- NASA image captures folks the world over waving to Saturn
- Forget winter in Westeros, summer's coming to Titan
- NASA photos show Earth from vantage point of Saturn, Mercury
Cassini was able to spot a small amount of propylene in Titan's lower atmosphere using its Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS), an instrument that measures infrared light and can "identify a particular gas glowing in the lower layers of the atmosphere from its unique thermal fingerprint."
Propylene is the first molecule to be discovered on Titan using CIRS, said NASA, but it likely won't be the last.
"This success boosts our confidence that we will find still more chemicals long hidden in Titan's atmosphere," said Michael Flasar, Goddard scientist and principal investigator for CIRS, in a statement.
Find out more about propylene on Titan in the NASA video below:
