Manned Landing On Titan, Issues & Answers? |
Manned Landing On Titan, Issues & Answers? |
Oct 19 2006, 09:08 PM
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Just got to thinking about some of the problems that may have to be addressed if & when we ever try to visit Titan in person.
The first thing that comes to mind is what might happen if some Titanian air gets inside an oxygen-rich manned spacecraft, say from minor airlock residue. I imagine that the explosive potential of some of the trace gasses is pretty high, and there's probably also a significant risk of poisonous compounds as well. So, here are some tenative requirements: 1. REALLY efficient air-scavenging airlocks. 2. Surface suits that can't trap external gasses in creases, folds, etc. 3. Spark-proof electrical/electronic everything. 4. Smoking is strictly forbidden (with apologies to the entire 1950s SF movie genre!) Gotta be more...any ideas? -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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Nov 24 2007, 04:35 PM
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Merciless Robot Group: Admin Posts: 8784 Joined: 8-December 05 From: Los Angeles Member No.: 602 |
Only thing I can think of would be an electrical problem like a broken wire touching the superstructure, arcing & sparking. However, there are likely to be many such interfaces, so the problem becomes keeping the internal atmosphere isolated from the external interfaces; not particularly easy.
The good news is that if the habitat has positive pressure as Mike suggested then you basically get a jet of flame shooting outwards at the joint; no interior fire. Bad news is that this could still cause one hell of a lot of damage, and might be difficult to extinguish. -------------------- A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
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