Unveiling Titan

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robnissen

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What we know:<br /><br />1. Numerous organic compounds on Titan.<br />2. Only Moon with an atmosphere (to speak of).<br /><br />What we think:<br /><br />1. Apparant geologic processes.<br /><br />What could be:<br /><br />1. Current Heat from the geologic processes;<br />2. Liquid water -- in a form resembling antifreeze;<br />3. Life!<br /><br />Although still a long shot, I am much more optimistic about life on Titan, than I was before this flyby. <br /><br />Hopefully, in the coming years NASA will give serious thought to a mission to Titan to look for life, maybe even before sending a mission to Europa. There is one huge problem with life on Europa, the liquid water appears to be miles below the icey surface, from the first images of Titan, it is at least a possibility of liquid water at or near the surface.
 
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toymaker

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"Hopefully, in the coming years NASA will give serious thought to a mission to Titan to look for life, maybe even before sending a mission to Europa"<br />From what I know there were some early concepts of a mission called Titan Explorer -look it up.<br />I am almost certain that alongside Europa and Mars, Titan shall become a center for space science-not necessarily because of a remote possiblity of life, but because it's just one planetary chemical lab and one of the most alien world we know <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />
 
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decepticon

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A mission to Titan before Europa!? <br /><br />I'm sorry but Europa is Number 1 in my books for a Mission.<br /><br /><br />
 
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thalion

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^<br />Amen.<br /><br />That said, I think any extended Cassini mission should be an exclusive Titan orbiter, to more fully map the surface and its topography, and more precisely gauge its gravity. It would be like Magellan for Titan. <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" />
 
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exoscientist

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Yep, Chemist, the Planetary Society consistently presents good articles describing the science in these missions.<br /><br /> Bob Clark <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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robnissen

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"I think any extended Cassini mission should be an exclusive Titan orbiter, to more fully map the surface and its topography, and more precisely gauge its gravity."<br /><br />Excellent idea. But does anyone know if that is feasible from an engineering standpoint. I would guess there must be some issues with changing from a Saturn orbit to a Titan orbit. If there was nothing to it, I would assume NASA would have parked Galileo around Io rather than crashing it into Jupiter. Also, one of the reasons why NASA crashed Galileo is, that it did not want to risk the possibility of Galileo crashing into Europa and possibly contaminating it (that is why I would guess that NASA would have parked Galileo around Io, not Europa). Although i guess that might be less of an issue here since NASA is already sending Huygens to Titan.<br /><br />Which raises a question for me, does anyone know what steps, if any, NASA took to sterilize Huygens?
 
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thalion

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IIRC, two things made slipping Galileo into Io orbit unfeasible. First, by the end of the mission the orbiter had far too little fuel left to ease into orbit, especially given the high orbital velocity due to Jupiter's intense gravity. No less important was the fact that radiation around Io was probably too intense for the venerable space probe to survive in for more than brief intervals; sustained exposure might have destroyed the probe in hours, in my guess. Finally, Galileo's compromised antenna would have sharply limited the value of any orbiter mission, which is why the team focused on making specific observations of a few select spots on the satellites.
 
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alexblackwell

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<i>Excellent idea. But does anyone know if that is feasible from an engineering standpoint. I would guess there must be some issues with changing from a Saturn orbit to a Titan orbit.</i><br /><br />Cassini does not have the propulsive delta-V capability to insert into Titan orbit, and this issue was studied at some length in consideration of possible mission extensions. Also complicating the case at Saturn is that, unlike at Jupiter, there are no additional moons sufficiently large enough to impart enough delta-V or to "pump" or "crank" Cassini's orbit.<br /><br />Note that the now old Europa Orbiter (EO) design, and not the new JIMO concept that uses simple brute force propulsion, would have conducted a Galileo-style tour to shape its trajectory to reach a "fuzzy" gravitational boundary at Europa. At that point, with Jupiter acting as a "third body," EO would have used this effect and propulsion to insert into a relatively short-lived, high-inclination europan orbit.<br /><br /><i>If there was nothing to it, I would assume NASA would have parked Galileo around Io rather than crashing it into Jupiter.</i><br /><br />Interestingly enough, consideration was given, early in the Galileo design process when a fully functional HGA was assumed, to ending the mission with a spectacular Ranger-style crash into Io. With the crippled HGA, though, this option was no longer available (<i>i.e</i>., no way to return the high rate imagery data in real time).<br /><br /><i>Which raises a question for me, does anyone know what steps, if any, NASA took to sterilize Huygens?</i><br /><br />Since Huygens does not carry life detection instruments, the probe was rated as Category II under COSPAR planetary protection standards; therefore, it was not sterilized. Hugyens was, however, assembled under Class 100,000 clean room procedures to reduce biological burden.
 
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centsworth_II

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<font color="yellow">"Cassini does not have the propulsive delta-V capability to insert into Titan orbit..."</font><br /><br />I know nothing of orbital mechanics, but I wonder about the possibility of altering Cassini's orbit around Saturn so that the "top" or "bottom" of the orbit swings around Titan, providing a prolonged opportunity for close observation. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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alexblackwell

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<i>...I wonder about the possibility of altering Cassini's orbit around Saturn so that the "top" or "bottom" of the orbit swings around Titan, providing a prolonged opportunity for close observation.</i><br /><br />I can't say that I understand what you're describing. Are you referring to a maneuver that produces a longer ground track, which in turn would offer the possibility of a longer RADAR swath? Or something else?<br /><br />In any event, I don't believe the situations you <i>might</i> be referring to are physically and/or operationally possible.
 
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exoscientist

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The radar images suggest that Titan might be geologically active. Perhaps volcanic activity occurs on an infrequent basis:<br /><br />Cassini RADAR: A "Living" Surface Lies Beneath Titan's Murk. <br />by Emily Lakdawalla<br />November 2, 2004<br />http://www.planetary.org/news/2004/cassini_titan_a_radar_1102.html<br /><br /><br /> Bob Clark<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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centsworth_II

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<font color="yellow">"I can't say that I understand what you're describing....In any event, I don't believe the situations you might be referring to are physically and/or operationally possible."</font><br /><br />I'm sure you're right. In any case, I wonder about the balance of science objectives in an extended mission. Could the fequency of Titan flybys be increased if it was decided to tilt the focus of Cassini science in that direction? <br /> <br /><br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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alexblackwell

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<i> In any case, I wonder about the balance of science objectives in an extended mission. Could the fequency of Titan flybys be increased if it was decided to tilt the focus of Cassini science in that direction?</i><br /><br />Since Titan is the only saturnian moon large enough for Cassini to utilize gravity assist, all orbits <i>must</i> return to Titan to continue the tour; in other words, the trajectory is a simple Titan-to-Titan transfer, though inclination and periapsis/apoapsis can vary depending on the goals of any given orbit. That said, assuming the spacecraft remained operational with sufficient propellant for TCMs, momentum desats, etc., the <i>number</i> of Titan flybys could be extended indefinitely or until these reserves were depleted. <br /><br />On the other hand, and there is always an other hand, there are several operational constraints that would affect the <i>frequency</i> of the Titan encounters. One is that the current Cassini mission rules require at least a roughly one-month spacing between flybys so that the ground system is not taxed too much. For example, the Cassini Navigation team needs a minimum of about two weeks of tracking data on both sides of a flyby to nail down the trajectory, the science teams need a minimum amount of time to assess science gathered and to plan science operations for the next flyby (though the bulk of the sequences are designed well in advance), the DSN scheduling is tight, etc.
 
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centsworth_II

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<font color="yellow">"...current Cassini mission rules require at least a roughly one-month spacing between flybys so that the ground system is not taxed too much."</font><br /><br />Can't ask for more than the most Titan science that the system can handle <img src="/images/icons/smile.gif" /> !<br /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> </div>
 
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astrophoto

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I am speaking from ignorance, so please forgive me. What are the long term plans for Cassini? Is it to observe the changing dynamics of Saturns storms and rings? Unlike a terrestrial planet where we can 'map' it, I wanted to know the long-term science gain from staring at Saturn for an extended period of time.
 
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alexblackwell

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Below are two interesting Titan-related papers in press with <i>Icarus</i>:<br /><br /><b>Meteorological assessment of the surface temperatures on Titan: constraints on the surface type</b><br /><i>Icarus</i>, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 5 November 2004<br />Tetsuya Tokano<br />Abstract<br /> <br /><b>Clouds, haze, and CH4, CH3D, HCN, and C2H2 in the atmosphere of Titan probed via 3 ìm spectroscopy</b><br /><i>Icarus</i>, In Press, Corrected Proof, Available online 5 November 2004<br />Sang J. Kim, T.R. Geballe, Keith S. Noll and Regis Courtin<br />Abstract
 
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mooware

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"Molten Ice"? I have a hard time putting Molten and Ice together. Maybe it's just me. Hmmm, how about anti-freeze slush?<br /><br />
 
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yurkin

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Molten ice flow, or a “river” as it is known as by English speaking life forms here on earth.<br /><br />Pardon my skepticism but this just can’t be true can it? <br />Even if the flow was at boiling when it erupted, in a -300F environment it would freeze very quickly. Even if there was ammonia and other anti-freezing agents mixed in with it. And how do the scientists know just judging form the topography that the flow isn’t ethane or something more reasonable then water?<br />
 
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