Other
Scientific paper
Dec 2008
adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2008agufm.p21a1345b&link_type=abstract
American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2008, abstract #P21A-1345
Other
5210 Planetary Atmospheres, Clouds, And Hazes (0343), 5215 Origin Of Life, 5220 Hydrothermal Systems And Weathering On Other Planets, 5225 Early Environment Of Earth
Scientific paper
In 2005, the Huygens Probe gave us a snapshot of a world tantalizingly like our own, yet frozen in its evolution on the threshold of life. The descent under parachute, like that of Huygens in 2005, is happening again, but this time in the Saturn-cast twilight of winter in Titan's northern reaches. With a pop, the parachute is released, and then a muffled splash signals the beginning of the first floating exploration of an extraterrestrial sea-this one not of water but of liquid hydrocarbons. Meanwhile, thousands of miles away, a hot air balloon, a "montgolfiere," cruises 6 miles above sunnier terrain, imaging vistas of dunes, river channels, mountains and valleys carved in water ice, and probing the subsurface for vast quantities of "missing" methane and ethane that might be hidden within a porous icy crust. Balloon and floater return their data to a Titan Orbiter equipped to strip away Titan's mysteries with imaging, radar profiling, and atmospheric sampling, much more powerful and more complete than Cassini was capable of. This spacecraft, preparing to enter a circular orbit around Saturn's cloud-shrouded giant moon, has just completed a series of flybys of Enceladus, a tiny but active world with plumes that blow water and organics from the interior into space. Specialized instruments on the orbiter were able to analyze these plumes directly during the flybys. Titan and Enceladus could hardly seem more different, and yet they are linked by their origin in the Saturn system, by a magnetosphere that sweeps up mass and delivers energy, and by the possibility that one or both worlds harbor life. It is the goal of the NASA/ESA Titan Saturn System Mission (TSSM) to explore and investigate these exotic and inviting worlds, to understand their natures and assess the possibilities of habitability in this system so distant from our home world. Orbiting, landing, and ballooning at Titan represent a new and exciting approach to planetary exploration. The TSSM mission architecture inherently provides the optimal balance between science, risk, and cost using three guiding principles: Achieve science well beyond the high bar set by Cassini Huygens. The TSSM orbiter, lander, and balloon have been configured with instruments and operational concept that go well beyond Cassini-Huygens capabilities, thus ensuring dramatic remote observation and in situ science discoveries. Build upon successful design and operational experience and lessons learned. ESA has successful experience in designing and landing probes on Titan (Huygens), as does NASA in implementing an orbiter at Saturn (Cassini). Long life design rules and extensive operational experience in the Saturn system have been applied to form the TSSM concept. Lessons learned from Galileo, Cassini, New Horizons, and MRO have been applied to reduce risk and lower cost. Development by ESA of the montgolfiere combines prior experience with Earth and planetary balloon systems to enable innovative science and unprecedented mobility for surface exploration. Strong international partnership. TSSM represents a collaborative effort between NASA and ESA that is structured to provide the best possible mission at a reasonable cost to NASA and to ESA. This NASA-ESA partnership leverages resources to maximize science return, distribute risk, and ensure technical readiness.
Beauchamp Patricia M.
Coustenis Athena
Erd Ch.
Lebreton Jeremy
Lunine Jonathan
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