Charles Wohlforth and Amanda R. Hendrix blog that the idea of a human colony on Titan, a moon of Saturn, might sound crazy. Although its temperature hovers at nearly 300 degrees below zero F, and its skies rain methane and ethane that flow into hydrocarbon seas, Titan could be the only place in the solar system where it makes sense to build a permanent, self-sufficient human settlement.
They reached this conclusion after looking at the planets in a new way, ecologically. They considered the habitat that human beings need and searched for those conditions in our celestial neighborhood. Up to now, most researchers have looked at the Moon or Mars as the next step for human habitation. These destinations have the dual advantages of proximity and of not being clearly unrealistic as choices for where we should go. That second characteristic is lacking at the other bodies near us in the inner solar system, Mercury and Venus, but Mercury is too close to the sun, and Venus atmosphere is poisonous, etc. Although the Moon and Mars look like comparatively reasonable destinations, they also have a deal-breaking problem. Neither is protected by a magnetosphere or atmosphere.
Galactic Cosmic Rays, the energetic particles from distant supernovae, bombard the surfaces of the Moon and Mars, and people can not live long-term under the assault of GCRs. Titan is the only other body in the solar system with liquid on the surface, with its lakes of methane and ethane that look startlingly like water bodies on Earth. It rains methane on Titan, occasionally filling swamps. For protection from radiation, Titan has a nitrogen atmosphere 50% thicker than Earth. Saturn magnetosphere also provides shelter.
On the surface, vast quantities of hydrocarbons in solid and liquid form lie ready to be used for energy. Although the atmosphere lacks oxygen, water ice just below the surface could be used to provide oxygen for breathing and to combust hydrocarbons as fuel.
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