The human prospect on Earth is dimming fast, but most of the Solar System remains virgin territory. Here on the Home Planet, there are mounting problems—fraying budgets, brazen corruption, unfathomable stupidity, gross incompetence, a deteriorating environment, dwindling resources, and, last but not least, relentless human predation on other humans.
In outer space, our imaginations can run wild. Dreamers dream, and, in so doing, are able to easily forget the god-awful mess here on Earth. Thus we are not surprised to find scientists saying Let's Make the Next Space Exploration Probe a Boat. And where will this boat sail?
Saturn has more than 60 natural satellites. The largest of them is Titan, which hosts not only a thick atmosphere, but also seas and lakes and rivers comprised of methane (liquid hydrogen). Because of that, Titan — though technically a moon — is one of the most Earth-like bodies in the solar system.
Because of that, as well, Titan is an enticing target for human exploration.
Scientists may debate whether Saturn's moon could actually support life; the atmosphere and surface liquids (not to mention a possible subsurface ocean) suggest a chance of it, while the frigid temperatures (minus 289 degrees Fahrenheit!) do not.
Either way, though, the potential for such Titanic hospitality makes exploration of Saturn's moon an ongoing goal. NASA's Cassini mission has been sending intriguing images of the planet-like body, and, in January 2005, the European Space Agency's Huygens probe touched down on Titan's surface — the first landing ever accomplished in our outer solar system.
The vehicle transmitted about 90 minutes' worth of information — including pretty spectacular images of drainage channels — before going quiet.
Titan's river networks draining into lakes on the moon's north polar region (NASA/JPL/USGS)
What's the plan?
Now a group of scientists, Space.com reports, is proposing a new mission to explore Titan — this time by way of a floating probe that would land on one of the moon's many lakes. The rather awesomely named Titan Lake In-situ Sampling Propelled Explorer (TALISE) would be a modified boat that would be equipped to explore, over a relatively lengthy period of time, the methane fluidity of Titan's surface.
TALISE, its design unveiled last week at the European Planetary Science Congress in Madrid, would be propelled by a combination of wheels, paddles, and screws, and would float atop Ligeia Mare — Titan's largest lake, located near its north pole.
After splashing down, the idea goes, TALISE would take a trip that would last anywhere from six months to a year, gathering liquid samples until reaching a Titanic coast.
Let's take a look at this. It's pretty cold on Titan—minus 289 degrees Fahrenheit! And the first robot explorer, the European Huygens probe, lasted all of 90 minutes before conking out, which reminds me of my favorite line from the story.
Scientists may debate whether Saturn's moon could actually support life...
Only "scientists" could debate, with a straight face, whether Titan could actually support something we might call life. At that temperature—90 degrees Kelvin—bacterial metabolism would be a bit on the slow side. For example, I'm guessing it might take about 10 million years, give or take, for a single cell to divide into two daughter cells
Still, we are expected to believe that TALISE will sail the hydrocarbon seas of Titan, gathering samples of liquid methane as it moves ever so slowly atop the Ligeia Sea toward the North Pole. It is here that we realize that the Human Imagination is pathetically limited. Why stop with an unwieldy boat?
Why not set up a Holiday Inn? That's where workers would stay after scooping up liquid methane all day long and loading it onto spaceships bound for Earth. And at night? When the Sun, such as it is 790,100,000 miles from Earth, sets and the daily work is done? Well, it's bitterly cold on Titan, a lot like Boston in January, and that's not baseball weather, so why not play hockey? But instead of water ice, miners could skate on frozen lakes of liquid hydrocarbons. Crosby scores another goal! He's going for the Hat Trick!
It doesn't get much better than that.
Come on, Dave; it's not the cold, its the dew point!
My guess this is all about coming up with some scheme to protect jobs and funding grants.
Posted by: John D | 10/10/2012 at 10:55 AM