A submarine for Titan?

[LongTomH]

Saturn's moon Titan is one of the most interesting places in the Solar System; liquid methane rains from the skies and it has lakes and seas of liquid methane. Now NASA Wants to Send a Submarine to Titan's Seas.

At this year’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium, a Titan submarine concept was showcased by NASA Glenn’s COMPASS Team and researchers from Applied Research Lab.

Envisaged as a possible mission to Titan’s largest sea, Kracken Mare, the autonomous submersible would be designed to make a 90 day, 2,000 kilometer (1,250 mile) voyage exploring the depths of this vast and very alien marine environment. As it would spend long periods under the methane sea’s surface, it would have to be powered by a radioisotope generator; a source that converts the heat produced by radioactive pellets into electricity, much like missions that are currently exploring space, like Cassini and Mars rover Curiosity.

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But Kracken Mare is not a tranquil lake fit for gentle sailing — it is known to have choppy waves and there is evidence of tides, all contributing to the challenge. Many of the engineering challenges have already been encountered when designing terrestrial submarines — robotic and crewed — but as these seas will be extremely cold (estimated to be close to the freezing point of methane, 90 Kelvin or -298 degrees Fahrenheit), a special piston-driven propulsion system will need to be developed and a nitrogen will be needed as ballast, for example.

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“Measurement of the trace organic components of the sea, which perhaps may exhibit prebiotic chemical evolution, will be an important objective, and a benthic sampler (a robotic grabber to sample sediment) would acquire and analyze sediment from the seabed,” the authors write (PDF). “These measurements, and seafloor morphology via sidescan sonar, may shed light on the historical cycles of filling and drying of Titan’s seas. Models suggest Titan’s active hydrological cycle may cause the north part of Kraken to be ‘fresher’ (more methane-rich) than the south, and the submarine’s long traverse will explore these composition variations.”

[Jackpine Radical]

1. Hey, waittaminnit here.

You mean we-re planning to send a submarine up to travel to and splash down on and swim around in this object in space that pretty much consists of a giant liquefied fart?


Do I have this right?

[LongTomH]

2. I don't think I'd put it exactly like that, but, well, yeah!!!!

[PeoViejo]

3. God's Fart

The Condensed Version.

Copyright: Reader's Digest 2015

[lastlib]

5. DUzy!!!

(maybe only geeks would get it.......)

[Fumesucker]

4. ...

[byronius]

6. Boss ride.

Great trip.