For some time Saturn's moon Titan has been proposed to have lakes of liquid methane. Radar imaging signals from the Cassini spacecraft's 'flyby' on 22 July 2006 hint that these proposals might be correct (see page 61). And a real-time e-mail that began during the flyby helped a group of researchers to piece the data together into strong evidence for the existence of lakes, says Ellen Stofan, a geologist at University College London, UK.

When the data began to flow, 38 scientists from around the world immediately weighed in with their opinions on an e-mail 'exploder' that allowed them to discuss the spacecraft's observations in real time. The group included geologists, engineers and radar experts, allowing the data to be simultaneously evaluated from various perspectives. The contributions of different fields to this analysis were crucial to the group's success, says Stofan. “Everyone's expertise came into play.”

So communications technology not only brought Cassini's observations to Earth, but also allowed them to be analysed in a host of locations almost immediately. “If you had asked me ten years ago whether it would be possible to study this sort of science by e-mail rather than by being in one room together, I would have said 'No way!'” says Stofan.