Titan's Resources and Their Utilization
1–10 of 15 posts
Re: Titan's Resources and Their Utilization
#2Illustrative video:
>On Jan. 14, 2005, ESA's Huygens probe made its descent to the surface of Saturn's hazy moon, Titan. Carried to Saturn by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, Huygens made the most distant landing ever on another world, and the only landing on a body in the outer solar system. This video uses actual images taken by the probe during its two-and-a-half hour fall under its parachutes.
Re: Titan's Resources and Their Utilization
#3Illustrative video: >On Jan. 14, 2005, ESA's Huygens probe made its descent to the surface of Saturn's hazy moon, Titan. Carried to Saturn by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, Huygens made the most distant landing ever on another world, and the only landing on a body in the outer solar system. This video uses actual images taken by the probe during its two-and-a-half hour fall under its parachutes. https://www.youtube.com/w…
Thank you SO much for this! I just watched it and my jaw dropped to the floor. What an accomplishment. I thought about a hundred years or so from now when there will be a base on Titan and explorers on and above the surface will happen on this probe, hopefully right where it landed in 2005. Worth building an exhibit/museum for visitors on the site, it seems to me....
Re: Titan's Resources and Their Utilization
#4Illustrative video: >On Jan. 14, 2005, ESA's Huygens probe made its descent to the surface of Saturn's hazy moon, Titan. Carried to Saturn by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, Huygens made the most distant landing ever on another world, and the only landing on a body in the outer solar system. This video uses actual images taken by the probe during its two-and-a-half hour fall under its parachutes. https://www.youtube.com/w…
Huygens was an amazing project. It also sticks in my head as a really instructive example of "bug in production code" - the Huygens probe was transmitting on two channels to the Cassini orbiter during its descent. Due to a mistake in the Cassini software, one of the receivers never got switched on. 900 million miles from Earth and during a one-off unprecedented probe landing on an outer solar system body. Half the images and some wind speed data lost.
I don't know if the exact details of the bug ever got published but it would be interesting to know how it slipped through testing.
Re: Titan's Resources and Their Utilization
#5Illustrative video: >On Jan. 14, 2005, ESA's Huygens probe made its descent to the surface of Saturn's hazy moon, Titan. Carried to Saturn by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, Huygens made the most distant landing ever on another world, and the only landing on a body in the outer solar system. This video uses actual images taken by the probe during its two-and-a-half hour fall under its parachutes. https://www.youtube.com/w…
Huygens was an amazing project. It also sticks in my head as a really instructive example of "bug in production code" - the Huygens probe was transmitting on two channels to the Cassini orbiter during its descent. Due to a mistake in the Cassini software, one of the receivers never got switched on. 900 million miles from Earth and during a one-off unprecedented probe landing on an outer solar system body. Half the im…
JPL tests in production!
Re: Titan's Resources and Their Utilization
#6I wonder if you could design a plastics production plant, injection molding system, propellant plant and an extremely large potato canon in order to launch large canisters of hydrocarbons and oxygen on a slow return trip.
Re: Titan's Resources and Their Utilization
#7I wonder if you could design a plastics production plant, injection molding system, propellant plant and an extremely large potato canon in order to launch large canisters of hydrocarbons and oxygen on a slow return trip.
Slow return trip to where? There’s plenty of both on Earth, so no point. But it may be easier to send bulk resources from Titan to the Moon or HEO than from Earth. I think the delta-V is lower, anyway.
Re: Titan's Resources and Their Utilization
#8I wonder if you could design a plastics production plant, injection molding system, propellant plant and an extremely large potato canon in order to launch large canisters of hydrocarbons and oxygen on a slow return trip.
Slow return trip to where? There’s plenty of both on Earth, so no point. But it may be easier to send bulk resources from Titan to the Moon or HEO than from Earth. I think the delta-V is lower, anyway.
The inner solar system was what I was thinking, returning to Earth like you said is a bit pointless but even a slow trajectory with a constant supply would be useful to have fuel and feedstock already in orbit near Mars and Earth.
Re: Titan's Resources and Their Utilization
#9Earlier quoted context omitted.
Slow return trip to where? There’s plenty of both on Earth, so no point. But it may be easier to send bulk resources from Titan to the Moon or HEO than from Earth. I think the delta-V is lower, anyway.
The inner solar system was what I was thinking, returning to Earth like you said is a bit pointless but even a slow trajectory with a constant supply would be useful to have fuel and feedstock already in orbit near Mars and Earth.
The Hohmann transfer time between Saturn and Mars/Earth is around 16 years. So, all the ships used for such a supply mission would reach their destination at least 32 years after they’ve been built, assuming we build them on Earth.
Re: Titan's Resources and Their Utilization
#10Earlier quoted context omitted.
The inner solar system was what I was thinking, returning to Earth like you said is a bit pointless but even a slow trajectory with a constant supply would be useful to have fuel and feedstock already in orbit near Mars and Earth.
The Hohmann transfer time between Saturn and Mars/Earth is around 16 years. So, all the ships used for such a supply mission would reach their destination at least 32 years after they’ve been built, assuming we build them on Earth.
That's not really a problem if the supply is continuous. Think of the last time you drank a 12-year scotch, that distillery had to be set up and start producing at least 12 years ago for them to label the product that way but they've continued production constantly since then which ensures there is a steady supply to be delivered to stores.