Proposed NASA Mission Would Sail the Seas of Titan 197
Posted
by
kdawson
from the can-the-sirens-be-far-behind dept.
from the can-the-sirens-be-far-behind dept.
The BBC has a report on a proposal that will be submitted to NASA for funding — a mission to Saturn's moon Titan that would deposit a lander on its hydrocarbon sea. (We recently discussed the widely-circulated photo of sunlight glinting off one of Titan's seas.) "The scientific team behind the idea is targeting Ligeia Mare, a vast body of liquid methane sited in the high north of Saturn's largest moon. ... 'It is something that would really capture the imagination,' said Dr Ellen Stofan, from Proxemy Research, who leads the study team. 'The story of human exploration on Earth has been one of navigation and seafaring, and the idea that we could explore for the first time an extraterrestrial sea I think would be mind-blowing for most people,' she told BBC News. ... The Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) has already been under study for about two years. It is envisaged as a relatively low-cost endeavor — in the low $400m range. It could launch in January 2016, and make some flybys of Earth and Jupiter to pick up the gravitational energy it would need to head straight at the Saturnian moon for a splash down in June 2023."
I'm glad they admitted their motivations (Score:3, Insightful)
Sometimes the point of science need be be nothing more than to capture our imaginations and/or blow our minds.
Re:Low cost? (Score:5, Insightful)
That "boat ride" is about .01% of the federal budget or what we spent on Iraq in less than 10 hours.
Re:Can't wait to fund this. (Score:5, Insightful)
This sort of BS analysis has been around forever. What do you think it going to happen with the $400 million? Think we are going to launch it into space? That goes to creating jobs, and the various space programs are *a lot* more effective than the close to $2 *trillion* spent on the other bogus stimulus plans in actual job creation. Even Governor Moonbeam himself has recognized the value of the space program in economic terms.
Now, if all we were going to do was pay someone to tell us what Titan is like, certainly the information would not be worth it. Pure science has never been and will never be the purpose of NASA. But building things to find out (and this creating movement in the economy and jobs) pays off.
Brett
Re:Sailing the myriad seas? (Score:3, Insightful)
Other than providing a gimmick to make this different than previous missions, what's the point? Land something in a sea of methane and look for what? Sail around to find more liquid methane?
Re:Can't wait to fund this. (Score:3, Insightful)
It's certainly a better use for 400M than bailing out a bunch of banks...
Furthering human knowledge and exploration of our solar system.
Sitting here on Earth for perpetuity won't solve our problems. Most of the problems we have here on Earth that are able to be addressed at all are largely the result of a poorly structured economic system in one form or another.
Re:Sailing the myriad seas? (Score:5, Insightful)
Re:Can't wait to fund this. (Score:5, Insightful)
I wouldn't mind paying my taxes toward space missions like this; it's all the other frivilous crap like bailouts, corporate welfare, corn subsidies and unnecessary wars that are really disgusting uses of tax dollars.
Re:Low cost? (Score:3, Insightful)
Hrm, let's see ... spend $400 million to explore grand new vistas and expand the sum total of human knowledge ... or spend $400 million on a website. I dunno, that's a tough one ...
Re:Sailing the myriad seas? (Score:4, Insightful)
Other than providing a gimmick to make this different than previous missions, what's the point? Land something in a sea of methane and look for what? Sail around to find more liquid methane?
You're probably right. Aw hell, scratch the 'probably'. Speaking purely personally though, this is the first time in the past 10 years I've actually felt a stirring in my heart about space exploration. This Titan thing actually brought back some of the magic of space that used to come through so vividly in the science fiction of the 80s (before the post-modernist hacks stank up the place). Huh, let's just say that as a taxpayer, I wouldn't be in the least upset if this mission actually happened. In fact, I'd be out there cheering it on all the way. Go figure :). Guess science is far from unemotional eh?
Re:Sailing the myriad seas? (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Sailing the myriad seas? (Score:3, Insightful)
Navigating by sea is easy and cheap. By targeting the sea, you may be able to visit and study its entire shoreline. If you landed on the shore instead, you are limited to that area you land in.
Re:Sailing the myriad seas? No (Score:1, Insightful)
This sounds like a really fun idea to sail around on another planet, but anyone that has ever been in a boat knows this is a dumb idea. Haven't you ever had a small boat get stuck on a sandbar or rock? The wikipedia page says it would only be propelled by the wind. If the wind only blows one way, it might travel straight to the shoreline and get stuck there. The shoreline could easily be craggy so there would be no traveling along the shoreline. Even if you had some method of propulsion, it might not be powerful enough to overcome the wind or free itself from an obstacle. If your main goal is to study the liquid, then it is ok, but don't expect to see much of anything else on the planet.
What is really needed is to do the mission using "multiple independently targetable reentry vehicles" (MIRVs). Drop different probes all over the place to study different things. Some could study the liquid, some could be rovers, etc. Have China, Russia, Japan, the EU, etc. each design and sponsor some probes -- that way the cost is not all on the U.S. The sponsor nation would then be in charge of carrying out the science of each probe. Send one group of probes and orbiter, then another group 6 months later. That will provide some redundancy in case of equipment failure.