Submarine could explore seas of huge Saturn moon Titan

[Admin]

Researchers have been crafting a concept mission that would send a submarine to Saturn's huge moon Titan, which sports lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons on its frigid surface.

Submarine could explore seas of huge Saturn moon Titan : Read more

 

[gmalone]

Hmmmm, sure, a submarine to explore the near-frozen hydrocarbon lakes on Titan. Oh, and do it by the 2030's. What was NASA smoking when they proposed this? Nothing at NASA happens that fast. So right off the bat, this entire project should be ignored, because it lacks credibility. That said, first priorities for NASA should be to spend 10 yrs living on the Moon, developing technologies that'll enable the first Mars colony, then, and only then, send people to Mars and let that be the top focus. Second, choose the best icy moon and first put a sophisticated probe in permanent orbit around that icy moon and study it 24/7/365 so we can understand exactly what it'll take to get under the ice and explore the murky depths below. Sheesh. This isn't the county fair where you throw a dart at the balloons and randomly get a prize. Prioritize and plan.

 

[liquidgrey01]

What an exciting project! Extremophiles might be living in those hydrocarbon lakes, so probes like this submarine might discover life. To understand why missions like this are important, I recommend taking a free course on astrobiology, such as "Astrobiology and the Search for Life" on Coursera.

Also, I don't see outer system probes as competing with Mars/Moon bases. It's not a binary choice between competing programs. Both programs can compliment each other. The benefit of exploring outer system moons is that it's another means of exploration.