The further adventures of Jasper the time travelling cat (Volume 2. Episode 1)

Volume 2. Episode 1....

A crackle and a splurt. A hiss and a wheeze. A whine and a miaow... Jasper has made contact

When we last spoke to the intrepid feline he was having a short sojourn on the surface of the planet Mars. About three thousand years ago. Or thereabouts.

Not content with travelling through both time and space, young Jasper has now decided to explore the further reaches of the solar system, from the hellish surfaces of Venus to darkened glacial wastelands of Pluto.

For some bizzare reason, he has decided to begin with the sixth rock from the sun: the gas giant Saturn.

With an atmosphere composed of hydrogen and helium, wrapped in the solar systems most spectacular ring system composed of millions of giant ice particles and rocks, one could be forgiven for wondering why Jasper didn´t try investigating somewhere a bit warmer... After all, his penchant for curling up in front of large fires (usually the smouldering remains of someones house) is well known.

That said, he has brought us word of a matter of significant interest: the surface of the Saturnian Moon, Titan.

According to the rather garbled data stream that Jasper sent us (lots of swearing and screaming in between various profanities concerning rats the size of Volkswagens) we were able to discern that young Jasper was trying to draw our attention to something of a liquid nature. Of course, it was at precisely that point that we lost contact...

Anyhoo, some quick research on the subject yielded this article from our old friends at the beeb, which informs us that recent scientific speculations are leaning towards there being some kind of liquid oceans on Titan. An intriguing prospect which European probes will investigate in 2005.