In-Situ Probing of Titan's Surface and Near-Surface Organic Environment From a Montgolfiere

Details In-Situ Probing of Titan's Surface and Near-Surface Organic Environment From a Montgolfiere In-Situ Probing of Titan's Surface and Near-Surface Organic Environment From a Montgolfiere

Sep 2006

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=2006dps....38.5613s&link_type=abstract

American Astronomical Society, DPS meeting #38, #56.13; Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, Vol. 38, p.587

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Since Dec 2005 a study team that includes the authors has investigated mission concepts for detailed studies of Titan's surface, shallow (1-3 km) subsurface, and lower atmosphere. Recent Cassini-Huygens results support the study's focus on pre-biotic organic chemistry at Titan, including environmental influences on chemical processes and evolution. The team's planetary scientists established a coherent set of science goals and objectives, worked with the engineering and instrument teams to define a candidate payload complement, and participated in developing a realistic operations scenario including the vehicles that carry the orbital and in situ payloads.
Titan's atmosphere is well suited for aerial vehicles, from stationary to hypersonic. Its large scale height makes it the easiest destination in the solar system for aerocapture into orbit, and relatively benign for direct entry. Aerocapture allows inserting significantly more mass into Titan orbit than other options. Titan's lower atmosphere features low gravity, high densities, and gentle winds conducive to energy-efficient subsonic vehicles from balloons to airplanes. A Montgolfiere, a well-tested type of hot-air balloon that uses an apex vent to control altitude, was judged the best candidate vehicle for this study's in situ payload and objectives. At Titan such a vehicle can loft more than 150 kg to altitudes in excess of 15 km using waste heat from a single power source such as those slated for the Mars Science Laboratory. Vertical controllability is such that accurate descent to altitudes of 100 m or less allows deployment and retrieval of surface-sampling devices. Models of Titan's winds indicate that controlling altitude also allows a degree of lateral control that in a half-year or year mission can visit a significant range of latitudes, over multiple circuits of Titan.
This paper discusses the science objectives and operational capabilities and considerations for such a mission concept.

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