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Q&A

What would be the impact on Titan, Saturn and the Solar system if aliens harvested as much hydrocarbons as possible from Saturn's moon?

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The scenario

Many science fiction novels are concerned with aliens visiting Earth, but what if aliens have no interest in Earth at all and yet they arrive at the Solar system for the sole purpose of refueling by harvesting as much hydrocarbons as possible from Saturn's moon Titan (e.g. methane, ethane, etc. stored in polar lakes and other hydrocarbons in the dust on the surface or perhaps even underground).

The question

What would be the impact of such harvest on Titan itself, the Saturn system and the entire Solar system?

Is the moon's orbit going to be changed significantly enough due to its mass reduction so that it collides with other moons or perhaps it even falls down to the planet?

What is a reasonable timeline for the impact to become apparent?

Additional info

I'm developing an idea for a science fiction novel which is meant to show that just as we humans destroy entire ecosystems with complete disregard for other lifeforms due to mining operations, an alien civilization could do the same to us by simply using the Solar system as a gas station on the way.

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This post was sourced from https://worldbuilding.stackexchange.com/q/128263. It is licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

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