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 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, NASA said.
“This chemical is all around us in everyday life, strung together in long chains to form a plastic called polypropylene,” Conor Nixon, a planetary scientist at NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, said 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
- … [Read more]
Related Links:
NASA radar device detects heartbeats in disaster rubble
To infinity and beyond! NASA’s Voyager bids solar system adieu
NASA’s fluorescent plane glows with the research flow
Will Europe send robot snakes to Mars before Hollywood?
NASA’s Voyager sends back freaky sound of interstellar space
Post a Comment