[extropy-chat] Mars and Titan

[Alfio Puglisi]

On Sat, 5 Jun 2004, Damien Broderick wrote:

>UK sf writer Adam Roberts mentioned in an interview his puzzlement that
>Titan (diameter 5150 km, 0.4 of Earth) has an atmospheric pressure at the
>surface 60% *greater* than Earth's, while Mars (6794 km, 0.53 Earth) has
>negligible atmosphere.
>
>Hmm. How so? Is solar wind the culprit, far less intense at 9.5 AU than at
>1.5? You'd expect Saturn to rip the air away, but maybe it outgasses itself
>and helps keep Titan pumped up?
>
>Damien Broderick

Temperature? Titan is much colder than Mars, and the atmosphere would have
much less energy to fly away. Also Titan atmosphere is mostly methane,
which is quite heavy as long as atmospheric gases go.

Alfio