'Boat' could explore Saturn moon
A daring proposal to try to put a "boat" down on a sea of Saturn's moon Titan is about to be submitted to Nasa.
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.
The concept will be suggested to the US space agency for one of its future mission opportunities that will test a novel power system.
would be the first exploration of a planetary sea beyond Earth.
"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.
Dr Stofan, who is also an honorary professor at University College London, has been describing her group's idea here at the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) Fall Meeting, the world's largest annual gathering of Earth scientists.
Low cost
The Cassini mission currently in orbit around Saturn has confirmed the haze-shrouded moon Titan to be an extraordinary place.
Great lakes exist on its surface, fed by rivers that wash down valleys whenever it rains.
In many respects, it resembles Earth and the way it cycles water between the surface and the atmosphere, except in the frigid temperatures of Titan it is not water but liquid hydrocarbons that are in constant circulation.
Scientists got a few brief hours worth of data back from Titan's land surface in 2005 when the Huygens probe touched down in an equatorial region of the moon.
Now a number of those same researchers are desperate to go back for a longer-lived stay, but to investigate this time the huge pools that contain methane, ethane, propane and probably many other types of hydrocarbon (carbon-rich) compounds.
The Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) has already been under study for about two years. It is envisaged as a relatively low-cost endeavour - 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.
The scientists have a couple of seas in mind for their off-world maritime research vessel. Ligeia Mare and Kraken Mare are both about 500km across.
Source: 'Boat' could explore Saturn moon
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.
The concept will be suggested to the US space agency for one of its future mission opportunities that will test a novel power system.
would be the first exploration of a planetary sea beyond Earth.
"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.
Dr Stofan, who is also an honorary professor at University College London, has been describing her group's idea here at the American Geophysical Union's (AGU) Fall Meeting, the world's largest annual gathering of Earth scientists.
Low cost
The Cassini mission currently in orbit around Saturn has confirmed the haze-shrouded moon Titan to be an extraordinary place.
Great lakes exist on its surface, fed by rivers that wash down valleys whenever it rains.
In many respects, it resembles Earth and the way it cycles water between the surface and the atmosphere, except in the frigid temperatures of Titan it is not water but liquid hydrocarbons that are in constant circulation.
Scientists got a few brief hours worth of data back from Titan's land surface in 2005 when the Huygens probe touched down in an equatorial region of the moon.
Now a number of those same researchers are desperate to go back for a longer-lived stay, but to investigate this time the huge pools that contain methane, ethane, propane and probably many other types of hydrocarbon (carbon-rich) compounds.
The Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) has already been under study for about two years. It is envisaged as a relatively low-cost endeavour - 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.
The scientists have a couple of seas in mind for their off-world maritime research vessel. Ligeia Mare and Kraken Mare are both about 500km across.
Source: 'Boat' could explore Saturn moon
