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[Canis lupus]

While rovers are ideal for exploring Mars, a boat is best for Titan, Saturn's largest moon. Scientists are proposing a new mission to explore this alluring world that would send a floating probe to land in a lake on Titan.

Titan, the largest of the more than 60 natural satellites of Saturn, is covered in seas, lakes and rivers of methane, and hosts a thick atmosphere, making it one of the most Earth-like bodies in the solar system. Smaller than Earth but wider than Mercury, Titan is in many ways more like a planet than a moon.

Scientists don't know if life might be possible on Titan. Some think it's too cold, as average temperatures are a chilly minus 289 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 178 degrees Celsius). Yet others say the insulating atmosphere and plentiful liquids, not to mention a possible subsurface ocean, could be hospitable to microbial organisms.

That's part of the reason researchers are so eager to explore the world, which has been imaged in recent years by NASA's Cassini mission, and was even studied by the accompanying European Space Agency Huygens probe, which plunged through Titan's atmosphere and touched down on land in January 2005, transmitting a few hours of data before it went quiet. [Amazing Photos of Titan]



Huygens confirmed that lakes, rivers and seas of liquid hydrocarbons abound on Titan. Now scientists want to send a follow-up mission to explore them.

That's where the Titan Lake In-situ Sampling Propelled Explorer (TALISE) comes in. The proposed mission would land a boat, propelled by wheels, paddles or screws, to float around Ligeia Mare, the largest lake on the moon, located near Titan's north pole. After splashing down, TALISE would make its way to the coast over the course of a trip lasting six months to a year.

"The main innovation in TALISE is the propulsion system," Igone Urdampilleta of Spain-based private engineering firm SENER, a member of the TALISE team, said in a statement. "This allows the probe to move, under control, from the landing site in the lake, to the closest shore. The displacement capability would achieve the obtaining of liquid and solid samples from several scientific interesting locations on Titan's surface such as the landing place, along the route towards the shore and finally at the shoreline."

TALISE is a joint project of SENER and the Centro de Astrobiología in Madrid, Spain. The concept is in its beginning stages, but scientists presented the proposal on Sept. 27 at the European Planetary Science Congress in Madrid.

http://www.space.com/17829-titan-lakes-boat-talise-mission.html

 

[NotTheGuyYouKill]

I want to go to there.

 

[xbhaskarx]

What if the ship finds life on Titan... and it's pirates?

 

[Ushojax]

What if the ship finds life on Titan... and it's pirates?

 

[Canis lupus]

Pictures from Cassini and Huyghens probe.

 

[perfectchaos007]

So methane apparently has a very low freezing point. A liquid at -300 degrees? impressive

 

[antipod]

Now they just need to send a giant drilling robot to Europa too and we're set.

 

[XenodudeX]

But can I drink the liquid methane. That's the important question here.

 

[perfectchaos007]

Now they just need to send a giant drilling robot to Europa too and we're set.

Some millionaires are already working on it. I don't know if it will be to Europa, but they are planning to send a drill to some asteroids/comets to mine for its ore and precious metals.

 

[Finaika]

 

[Canis lupus]

Ah there was even a landing video

This one is an amazing video of Saturn.

 

[Kenka]

Holy Kaboom, these videos are extraordinary TurkishEmperor. I need to know more now about what Huygens did on Titan's surface.

 

[ItAintEasyBeinCheesy]

Submarine....... so we can look for aliens.

 

[antipod]

Some millionaires are already working on it. I don't know if it will be to Europa, but they are planning to send a drill to some asteroids/comets to mine for its ore and precious metals.

I was more thinking of a robot to drill the icy crust on Europa to get to the, supposedly, water underneath. To look for life.

 

[SteveWD40]

 

[perfectchaos007]

I was more thinking of a robot to drill the icy crust on Europa to get to the, supposedly, water underneath. To look for life.

Oh thats right, its crust does have ice (supposedly). Doesn't mars have polar ice caps? I think curiosity should drive over to one of the pole's to check it out.

 

[Stinkles]

Ah there was even a landing video

This one is an amazing video of Saturn.

Always blows my mind how thin those rings are. Dozens of feet thick in places, yet we can see then from Earth.

 

[Scrow]

Submarine....... so we can look for aliens.

i'd be very surprised if they didn't at least put a camera on the boat that can look under the surface.

as for submarine... that's probably too large of a technical feat to jump to at this point.

 

[donkey show]

Anything is possible!

 

[Smiles and Cries]

I want to hear about things that will happen in my lifetime

I never really understood this ending... I need to watch these things again to see if I get it

 

[Kenka]

I wonder if you can hear radio waved from Saturn when they hit Titan's atmosphere:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFGdTI9KeA

 

[Woz]

Now they just need to send a giant drilling robot to Europa too and we're set.

Europa is forbidden!

Edit: Beaten?

 

[dejay]

 

[FindMyFarms]

Lakes made of methane? So does that mean everything stinks on Titan? This is a serious question.

 

[noah111]

Why would they make only a surface boat? Why not a submarine? I would think the bottom of those water beds would be more interesting and revealing than the surface...

Either way, Titan and Europa are going to be really interesting 'firsts' for space travel considering the rovers will need to traverse liquid environments and just sit on the safe surface of crater or mountain.

 

[KimiNewt]

Lakes made of methane? So does that mean everything stinks on Titan? This is a serious question.

Methane is odorless.

 

[FindMyFarms]

Methane is odorless.

Hmm i wonder what i was thinking of. For some reason i thought methane was the cause of gassy odor from shit etc.

 

[KimiNewt]

Hmm i wonder what i was thinking of. For some reason i thought methane was the cause of gassy odor from shit etc.

It is in farts &c., but it's not the component creating the awful odors.

 

[ReBurn]

It is in farts &c., but it's not the component creating the awful odors.

The awful odors are created by sin in your heart.

 

[Canis lupus]

I wonder if you can hear radio waved from Saturn when they hit Titan's atmosphere:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFFGdTI9KeA

I didn't need to sleep anyway.

 

[Ezalc]

Space boats huh? Just in case....

 

[Alucrid]

Hmm i wonder what i was thinking of. For some reason i thought methane was the cause of gassy odor from shit etc.

hydrogen sulfide

 

[DonasaurusRex]

Exactly...lets just try Europa.

 

[SteveWD40]

I never really understood this ending... I need to watch these things again to see if I get it

The book sheds more light on it:

Spoiler

Essentially the controllers of the Monoliths are a super advanced race of aliens, they turn Jupiter into a sun to spurn life on Europa, they allow humans to live and colonise the solar system but not on Europa as they wish for life there to be unhindered / unexploited.

It cuts to 20k years ahead where the Europans are primitive but can see the other moons in the night sky on the cold side of the moon and see lights spreading on them (us).

We keep trying to land there but the Monoliths just destroy the probes / divert the ships.

 

[TabletopTictacs]

I say we send James Cameron

 

[ElectricBlue187]

You had me at "space boat"