The potential commonality of prebiotic chemical processes on Titan and the primitive Earth makes Titan a prime body of astrobiological interest. Amino acid synthesis can occur if the abundant simple organics on Titan’s surface can mix with liquid water. Because events that melt surface ice, such as impacts, are rare, it is essential to recognize how long the synthesized molecules remain intact on Titan’s surface. The degradation of biomolecules in extraterrestrial environments can be estimated by combining theoretical work about energy deposition on the surface with experimental results from irradiation of organic molecules. We modelled the destruction of amino acids on the surface of Titan, something absent in current literature. We chose Glycine, Alanine, and Phenylalanine as our molecules of interest due to relevant experimental results for their radiation stability at Titan temperatures. Titan’s thick atmosphere prevents solar radiation and energetic particles trapped in Saturn’s magnetosphere from reaching the surface. The dominant source of energetic radiation at the surface of Titan is the diminished flux of Galactic Cosmic Rays (GCR’s) that penetrate the atmosphere. Sittler Jr et al. (Icarus, 2019) modeled surface GCR flux to be ~10^-9 ergs/cm^3/s. Using the GCR flux, in conjunction with the half-life doses at T=100 K from Gerakines et al. (Icarus, 2012), we estimate the half-lives to be 7.69 x 10^12;, 5.07 x 10^12, and 5.82 x 10^12 years for Glycine, Alanine and Phenylalanine, respectively. These extraordinarily long half-lives on Titan’s surface, as compared to similar calculations for amino acids on Mars, Europa, or Pluto, are directly the result of reduced energy deposition due to the atmosphere. We thus conclude that the degradation of these three amino acids by GCR flux is insignificant over geological time, and will not be an essential factor in interpreting the chemistry from Titan’s surface samples from future missions, such as Dragonfly.
