https://www.space.com/43010-dragonfly-mission-would-put-a-drone-on-titan.html
NASA May Decide This Year to Land a Drone on Saturn’s Moon Titan

The spacecraft that have peered through the yellowish haze surrounding Saturn’s moon Titan discovered a strange, yet strangely familiar world where life could theoretically take root. Now, scientists want to return — this time buoyed by Earth’s fascination with drone technology.

That’s precisely what a team of scientists working on a proposed mission called Dragonfly want to do: combine terrestrial drone technology and instruments honed by Mars exploration to investigate the complex chemical reactions taking place on Saturn’s largest moon. Later this year, NASA will need to decide between that mission and another finalist proposal, which would collect a sample from a comet.

dv said:

https://www.space.com/43010-dragonfly-mission-would-put-a-drone-on-titan.html
NASA May Decide This Year to Land a Drone on Saturn’s Moon Titan

The spacecraft that have peered through the yellowish haze surrounding Saturn’s moon Titan discovered a strange, yet strangely familiar world where life could theoretically take root. Now, scientists want to return — this time buoyed by Earth’s fascination with drone technology.

That’s precisely what a team of scientists working on a proposed mission called Dragonfly want to do: combine terrestrial drone technology and instruments honed by Mars exploration to investigate the complex chemical reactions taking place on Saturn’s largest moon. Later this year, NASA will need to decide between that mission and another finalist proposal, which would collect a sample from a comet.

The Titan mission sounds more interesting.
Combine one probe with a few surface missions, like a submarine/boat that can explore the methane seas, the dragonfly drone

Manuel “I know nothing about the horse”

Cymek said:

Manuel “I know nothing about the horse”

I see

Yeah do Titan, do Titan.

Bubblecar said:

Yeah do Titan, do Titan.

I too support Bubblecar’s plan in relation to Titan doage.

Cymek said:

dv said:

https://www.space.com/43010-dragonfly-mission-would-put-a-drone-on-titan.html
NASA May Decide This Year to Land a Drone on Saturn’s Moon Titan

The spacecraft that have peered through the yellowish haze surrounding Saturn’s moon Titan discovered a strange, yet strangely familiar world where life could theoretically take root. Now, scientists want to return — this time buoyed by Earth’s fascination with drone technology.

That’s precisely what a team of scientists working on a proposed mission called Dragonfly want to do: combine terrestrial drone technology and instruments honed by Mars exploration to investigate the complex chemical reactions taking place on Saturn’s largest moon. Later this year, NASA will need to decide between that mission and another finalist proposal, which would collect a sample from a comet.

The Titan mission sounds more interesting.
Combine one probe with a few surface missions, like a submarine/boat that can explore the methane seas, the dragonfly drone

Agree. Titan is ideal for operating a hot air balloon or other type of flying craft. The nitrogen atmosphere is thicker than Earth’s.

mollwollfumble said:

Cymek said:

dv said:

https://www.space.com/43010-dragonfly-mission-would-put-a-drone-on-titan.html
NASA May Decide This Year to Land a Drone on Saturn’s Moon Titan

The spacecraft that have peered through the yellowish haze surrounding Saturn’s moon Titan discovered a strange, yet strangely familiar world where life could theoretically take root. Now, scientists want to return — this time buoyed by Earth’s fascination with drone technology.

That’s precisely what a team of scientists working on a proposed mission called Dragonfly want to do: combine terrestrial drone technology and instruments honed by Mars exploration to investigate the complex chemical reactions taking place on Saturn’s largest moon. Later this year, NASA will need to decide between that mission and another finalist proposal, which would collect a sample from a comet.

The Titan mission sounds more interesting.
Combine one probe with a few surface missions, like a submarine/boat that can explore the methane seas, the dragonfly drone

Agree. Titan is ideal for operating a hot air balloon or other type of flying craft. The nitrogen atmosphere is thicker than Earth’s.

Obv downsides we’ve discussed before:

thick cloud layer makes photovoltaics out of the question and batteries won’t last for a long mission so radionuclear power (of various kinds) will be the only way.

Similarly, it will be difficult to transmit from surface to Earth so you will need a transmitter presumably in orbit around Saturn to boost the signal back to Earth.

dv said:

mollwollfumble said:

Cymek said:

The Titan mission sounds more interesting.
Combine one probe with a few surface missions, like a submarine/boat that can explore the methane seas, the dragonfly drone

Agree. Titan is ideal for operating a hot air balloon or other type of flying craft. The nitrogen atmosphere is thicker than Earth’s.

Obv downsides we’ve discussed before:

thick cloud layer makes photovoltaics out of the question and batteries won’t last for a long mission so radionuclear power (of various kinds) will be the only way.

Similarly, it will be difficult to transmit from surface to Earth so you will need a transmitter presumably in orbit around Saturn to boost the signal back to Earth.

Isn’t that what the probe would do send the signals back.
Thought it would make sense to multipurpose the mission with a number of exploration bots as its a big time effort to get there, makes it more complex and less fail safe but would it be better than separate missions.

Cymek said:

Isn’t that what the probe would do send the signals back.

I’m not sure what you mean.

Power limitations and poor radio transitivity will inhibit from Titan’s surface to the Earth. I’m suggesting a second probe, in orbit around Saturn, to transmit to Earth. (This is indeed how Huygens ran it).

dv said:

Cymek said:

Isn’t that what the probe would do send the signals back.

I’m not sure what you mean.

Power limitations and poor radio transitivity will inhibit from Titan’s surface to the Earth. I’m suggesting a second probe, in orbit around Saturn, to transmit to Earth. (This is indeed how Huygens ran it).

Wouldn’t/couldn’t the original probe stay in orbit once the landers have departed and do this

Cymek said:

Wouldn’t/couldn’t the original probe stay in orbit once the landers have departed and do this

We appear to be talking about the same idea.

Note: in orbit around Saturn. It would not be possible to be in a stable orbit around Titan.

dv said:

Cymek said:

Wouldn’t/couldn’t the original probe stay in orbit once the landers have departed and do this

We appear to be talking about the same idea.

Note: in orbit around Saturn. It would not be possible to be in a stable orbit around Titan.

How long would an unstable orbit around Titan last ?

Cymek said:

dv said:

Cymek said:

Wouldn’t/couldn’t the original probe stay in orbit once the landers have departed and do this

We appear to be talking about the same idea.

Note: in orbit around Saturn. It would not be possible to be in a stable orbit around Titan.

How long would an unstable orbit around Titan last ?

I once read a book called “Clockwise to Titan”. It wasn’t a science fiction book. The title came from the phrase: “Clockwise to tighten, anticlockwise to loosen”.

As for orbit. The longest orbit would be a balance between three different effects – atmospheric drag means the orbit can’t be too close. Mass concentrations within Titan means that the orbit can’t be too close. The gravity of Saturn means that the orbit can’t be too far away.

An orbit around Earth isn’t stable, either. A large spacecraft in orbit around Earth at an altitude of 350 km can come crashing down in just a year and one month.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Orbital_decay