A Review of the Geochemical Environment at Selk Crater on Titan: Applications to Dragonfly.

Authors

Catherine D Neish, Sarah M Hörst, Jani Radebaugh, Melissa G Trainer, David Boulesteix, Arnaud Buch, Morgan L Cable, Ellen C Czaplinski, Kendra K Farnsworth, Ralph D Lorenz, Shannon MacKenzie, Matthew Pasek, Jason M Soderblom

Published in

Astrobiology. Pages 15311074261493711. Oct 07, 2026. Epub Oct 07, 2026.

Abstract

This article summarizes the current state of knowledge regarding the destination for NASA's Dragonfly mission: Titan's Selk crater. We aim to foster an enhanced understanding of the environment in which Selk crater formed and how it evolved over time so that this knowledge may be used to interpret the data collected by the Dragonfly mission. In particular, we seek to constrain the likely products of the organic chemistry that occurred in its impact melt deposits. As such, we focus here on the crustal composition in the region where Selk crater formed, the molecules delivered by the impactor, the likely duration and evolution of aqueous chemistry in its melt deposits, and their expected reactants and chemical pathways. We conclude this article with recommendations for the best locations to sample the products of these reactions and describe how Dragonfly may use its instrumentation to identify and characterize the products of the aqueous chemistry at Selk crater.

PMID:
42844211
Bibliographic data and abstract were imported from PubMed on 08 Oct 2026.

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