As we know, the International Space Science Institute (ISSI), in Bern (Switzerland), partially funds international teams to carry out a research project that need complementary scientific expertise. Teams are set up in competitive response to an Annual Call by ISSI. One of us, Luisa M. Lara, PI of Scitechss, will participate in a new ISSI team, called ATTACK.
The aim of the ATTACK International ISSI Team is to advance the understanding of Titan’s atmospheric prebiotic chemistry and evaluate its possible implications in current and future observations. We will face this challenge by means of a multi-disciplinary approach that will combine efforts from a Team with expertise in astronomical observations, theoretical and experimental chemistry, and modelers of Titan’s atmosphere (photochemistry, microphysics, atmospheric circulation) and surface (radiative transfer, mixing models).
Complexity of Titan’s chemistry (Nixon, 2024)
This endeavour is divided into three tasks:
Task 1: Advance the understanding of chemical processes leading to large molecules in Titan’s atmosphere, in which Luisa M. Lara participates.
Task 2: Explore theoretically and experimentally the role of heterogeneous processes on Titan’s haze particles.
Task 3: Characterise Titan’s atmosphere and haze through Cassini-Huygens and JWST observations.
The kick-off meeting took place on the 5th of November 2024 and with it, we formally initiated the activities of this ISSI International Team: linking scientific objectives to different team’s expertise and approaches (laboratory experiments, theoretical models and observations).
Team members: Panayotis Lavvas (leader), Athena Coustenis (leader), Conor Nixon, Nadia Balucani, Audrey Chatain, Ralf Kaiser, Luisa M. Lara, Alexander Mebel, Anezina Solomonidou, Nick Teanby, Sandrine Vinatier, and Veronique Vuitton
Excerpt: These three mosaics of Titan were composed with data from Cassinis visual and infrared mapping spectrometer taken during the last three Titan flybys, on Oct. 28, 2005 left, Dec. 26, 2005 middle, and Jan. 15, 2006 right (Cassini, NASA)