Titan

[hayhay]

Do you think Titan is a good prospect for colonizing? Wasn't there flowing rivers found there?<br />What is the climate like? What kind of elements are there? <br /><br />What factors would we have to consider when colonizing and how could they be solved?<br /><br />Basically, what sources would we need to survive, and how could we colonize Titan?<br /> (I'm writing a paper on colonizing space and it has to include HOW.. and I'm not even sure where to start.)<br /><br />Thanks!

 

[najab]

><i>Do you think Titan is a good prospect for colonizing?</i><p>In the far, far term? Yes.<p>><i> Wasn't there flowing rivers found there?</i><p>We didn't actually see the rivers, but we saw the river channels. Keep in mind though that they are rivers of liquid methane.<p>><i>What is the climate like?</i><p>The current weather forecast calls for a low of -185C, a high of -182, winds variable at 10-20mph and a 50% chance of methane preciptiation.<p>><i>What kind of elements are there?</i><p>Check out some of the threads on the Huygen's mission.</p></p></p></p></p></p></p>

 

[najab]

><i>They could be. But no one knows. It's not confirmed. </i><p>True.<p>Let me modify my statement to say that if the channels we see in the images are formed by flowing liquid: (a) That they are most likely rivers of liquid hydrocarbons; and (b) That they are <b>not</b> caused by liquid water.</p></p>

 

[chew_on_this]

gee... I seem to remember someone as saying " there is no liquids flowing blah blah blah... it's a frozen world blah blah blah... ad infinitum... ad nauseum. Hmm... who could that be I wonder.

 

[najab]

Well I know it wasn't me. I don't think it was you. HayHay only joined recently. So who in this thread does that leave? Hmm.....

 

[majornature]

Is it possible that Titan can be the next "Earth"? So far Cassini has found organic material. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#14ea50"><strong><font size="1">We are born.  We live.  We experiment.  We rot.  We die.  and the whole process starts all over again!  Imagine That!</font><br /><br /><br /><img id="6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264" style="width:176px;height:247px" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/14/4/6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" width="276" height="440" /><br /></strong></font> </div>

 

[mrmorris]

Gosh I hope so. There's a big list of people I'd suggest being sent out there as the initial colonists. <br />I'll even let them take along a good snowsuit and some long johns.

 

[majornature]

Good for thought, but most importantly, Titan does not have oxygen in which we breath, so they should bring oxygen tanks along. Also NASA could try to make a device/ machine that can filter out Titan's atmospheric/ organic material into something we live off.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="2" color="#14ea50"><strong><font size="1">We are born.  We live.  We experiment.  We rot.  We die.  and the whole process starts all over again!  Imagine That!</font><br /><br /><br /><img id="6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264" style="width:176px;height:247px" src="http://sitelife.space.com/ver1.0/Content/images/store/14/4/6e5c6b4c-0657-47dd-9476-1fbb47938264.Large.jpg" alt="blog post photo" width="276" height="440" /><br /></strong></font> </div>

 

[mrmorris]

<font color="yellow">"Titan does not have oxygen in which we breath, so they should bring oxygen tanks along."</font><br /><br />Actually for the list of people I had in mind, oxygen tanks would be a pointless luxury.

 

[dan_casale]

Brilliant Idea! Mind if I add to your list?

 

[no_way]

Ok, whats the reasonable transit time with currently available chemical or solar-electric propulsion to Titan ? <br /><br />I think its a tad bit longer than colonists sailing to new worlds historically endured.

 

[nacnud]

Think Odysseus rather than pilgrim fathers <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />

 

[ehs40]

odyesseus is cool but a boat isn't going to get you to titan

 

[john_316]

<br />But if you use a nuclear rocket you can transit in 3 years but thats still a long time to travel just to play explorer and colonist....<br /><br />

 

[space_tycoon]

With suspended animation, people will not have to endure the long months and years of interplanetary space travel. Just put 'em in deep, deep sleep (not freezing necessarily) and wake 'em up when they get close to the destination. Maybe keep one crewmember awake for the entire trip, to watch over the others.<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Aetius]

Not even one, I'd say. Robots and redundant systems should be designed to eliminate the need to awake the precious human cargo.<br /><br />I've always preferred the idea of colonizing the outer solar system to Mars, personally.

 

[space_tycoon]

Yes, the outer gas giants are truly awesome, like little solar systems. <br /><br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>

 

[Aetius]

Besides, the technology to build space colonies utilizing the resources of gas giants and their moons is readily adaptable to colonizing nearby star systems like Epsilon Eridani and Gliese 876.

 

[ehs40]

it would be nice to live around other stars but lets move off the earth first but we will get there someday

 

[tex_1224]

can the public view the sights and sounds of the probe that passed into Titan at 11:13 CET and landed at 13:45 CET on Jan of 2005. What are the findings of that mission, have we found basic life? What is being kept from the eyes of the public? Why don't they show us everything, cuz I mean, I'd like to know. If there are cellular creatures of any form, thats HUGE.

 

[telfrow]

<img src="/images/icons/rolleyes.gif" /><br /><br />http://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/index.html<br /><br />The other issues have been covered here: <br />http://uplink.space.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=sciastro&Number=286336&page=4&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=<br /><br />and here:<br />http://uplink.space.com/showflat.php?Cat=&Board=sciastro&Number=298045&page=5&view=collapsed&sb=5&o=0&fpart=<br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <strong><font color="#3366ff">Made weak by time and fate, but strong in will to strive, to seek, to find and not to yeild.</font> - <font color="#3366ff"><em>Tennyson</em></font></strong> </div>

 

[bonzelite]

the bounce echo stuff sounds like an old video game from intellivision or atari. like 1981.

 

[CalliArcale]

<blockquote><font class="small">In reply to:</font><hr /><p>can the public view the sights and sounds of the probe that passed into Titan at 11:13 CET and landed at 13:45 CET on Jan of 2005. What are the findings of that mission, have we found basic life? What is being kept from the eyes of the public? Why don't they show us everything, cuz I mean, I'd like to know. If there are cellular creatures of any form, thats HUGE.<p><hr /></p></p></blockquote><br /><br />I can give you a brief summary. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />The Huygens mission lasted just a couple of hours from the time of atmospheric entry interface to the time Cassini "set" over the horizon of Titan from the perspective of the Huygens spacecraft. Well, technically speaking it lasted a little longer. The batteries were good for up to three hours from entry, and ESA scientists did continue to receive very weak signals from Huygens on Earth. But they were extremely weak signals. Realistically, the only way to get enough bandwidth to be useful was for Huygens to talk to Cassini, so once Cassini had lost its line-of-sight to the probe, that was over. Additionally, a problem with Doppler shift in the radio signal between the two spacecraft meant that the bandwidth was not as good as originally planned. Engineers realized this problem during the long cruise from Earth to Saturn, but it was obviously too late to replace the radios. They were able to make a few fixes by changing plans and software -- changing the date of the Huygens landing to make it happen after Saturn Orbit Insertion, so Cassini wouldn't be going so fast relative to Titan, tweaking the software, and cancelling radar observations of Titan during the Huygens mission so Cassini's high gain antenna could concentrate entirely on listening to Huygens. There was one more problem too -- somebody keyed in instructions wrong and one entire channel of data wasn't recorded by Cassini and consequently could not be retransmitted on to Earth. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[Display_Name_Here]

<u><font color="#800080">http://www.livescience.com/space/scienceastronomy/080213-titan-oil.html</font></u><br /> Well, we are crabon based life as the article says and the moon is seemingly, "covered in carbon bearing material." Within the abundance of oil present on the moon is it incorrect for us to assume there may have been life on this moon? Considering that oil is made from dead organic matter etc. Couldn't that also institute verification of the water we believe may be there?

 

[JonClarke]

<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>http://www.livescience.com/space/scienceastronomy/080213-titan-oil.html Well, we are crabon based life as the article says and the moon is seemingly, "covered in carbon bearing material." Within the abundance of oil present on the moon is it incorrect for us to assume there may have been life on this moon? Considering that oil is made from dead organic matter etc. Couldn't that also institute verification of the water we believe may be there? <br />Posted by Display_Name_Here</DIV></p><p>Well, it not oil, rather methane and ethane and a range of other organic compounds called tholins.&nbsp; These are all consistant with a abiotic or prebiotic chemistry.&nbsp; These compounds are forming in the atmosphere, whereas the liquid water is several 100 km below the surface, only occasionally reaching it as Titan's equivalent of lava.</p><p>But there is still so little we know about Titan,&nbsp; the possibilities are still very open.</p><p>Jon</p><p><br /><br />&nbsp;</p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p><em>Whether we become a multi-planet species with unlimited horizons, or are forever confined to Earth will be decided in the twenty-first century amid the vast plains, rugged canyons and lofty mountains of Mars</em>  Arthur Clarke</p> </div>