NASA Is Planning To Send A Submarine To Titan, Saturn’s Largest Moon

NASA Is Planning To Send A Submarine To Titan, Saturn’s Largest Moon

NASA has unveiled conceptual plans to send an autonomous submarine to Titan, Saturn’s moon, in a bid to explore the vast icy reaches of the Kraken Mare.

At the recent 2015 NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts (NIAC) Symposium in Cocoa Beach, Florida, researchers revealed the Titan Submarine Phase I Conceptual Design, an outline for a mission that could potentially take place in 2040. The ambitious plan would see an autonomous submarine dispatched to sail the near-cryogenic seas of methane and hydrocarbons that exist at the poles of Titan, the largest of which is called the Kraken Mare. Unique among the bodies of the solar system, Titan is one of the few places outside of the Earth where liquid seas and lakes can be found on the surface.

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Nice name, Kraken Mare.

AwesomeO said:

Nice name, Kraken Mare.

I wish they’d named it after Syria’s president:

then, it could’ve been ‘Kraken Assad’

>>seas of methane and hydrocarbons

I see.

Peak Warming Man said:

>>seas of methane and hydrocarbons

I see.

well, there’s your fuel shortage solved. It now just a question of piping. Lots of piping.

Peak Warming Man said:

>>seas of methane and hydrocarbons

I see.

The eyes have it.

They should have said seas of methane and other hydrocarbons.

Both “liquid” and “hydrocarbon” are misleading in the context of Titan.

First remember that the space probe Huygens landed in a sea area but didn’t sink because the sea was dry. You might not remember, but Huygens was designed to land safely both on land and in liquid, if it landed in liquid then it was designed to float.

The small lakes are probably like tars, very high viscosity. Swimming through it could easily prove to be impossible. “Non-Newtonian fluid” is a better description than “liquid”.

The word “hydrocarbon” is also misleading. Hydrocarbon implies made almost solely of hydrogen and carbon. Organics on Titan would also contain quite high concentrations of atoms of oxygen, nitrogen and other elements. Don’t say “hydrocarbon” because it isn’t correct, say “liquid organics” or “tar” or “asphaltene” or “kerogen” or “resin”.

mollwollfumble said:

Both “liquid” and “hydrocarbon” are misleading in the context of Titan.

First remember that the space probe Huygens landed in a sea area but didn’t sink because the sea was dry. You might not remember, but Huygens was designed to land safely both on land and in liquid, if it landed in liquid then it was designed to float.

The small lakes are probably like tars, very high viscosity. Swimming through it could easily prove to be impossible. “Non-Newtonian fluid” is a better description than “liquid”.

The word “hydrocarbon” is also misleading. Hydrocarbon implies made almost solely of hydrogen and carbon. Organics on Titan would also contain quite high concentrations of atoms of oxygen, nitrogen and other elements. Don’t say “hydrocarbon” because it isn’t correct, say “liquid organics” or “tar” or “asphaltene” or “kerogen” or “resin”.

:)

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