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 26 2007, 05:38 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
All in all, though, Nick, Titan offers more of the raw materials humans would need to create a self-sustaining colony than just about any other body in the Solar System (except for Earth).
There are all the elements we need to survive -- specifically, carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and nitrogen -- in great abundance. The only thing in short supply is a good power source. Yes, if you crack enough oxygen from the water ice you'd be able to burn a lot of the hydrocarbons, but that burning would generate less energy than what you'd need to crack that much oxygen out, I fear. The one thing we'd need to import from Earth is a good energy source to make Titan a good place for human habitation. Unfortunately, the only thing I can think of that would work well there would be nuclear energy, and you don't want to have to transport megatons of fissile materials all the way out to Saturn! (You think you have issues with the anti-nuke crowd *now*...) -the other Doug -------------------- “The trouble ain't that there is too many fools, but that the lightning ain't distributed right.” -Mark Twain
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Nov 26 2007, 07:16 AM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 688 Joined: 20-April 05 From: Sweden Member No.: 273 |
Yes, if you crack enough oxygen from the water ice you'd be able to burn a lot of the hydrocarbons, but that burning would generate less energy than what you'd need to crack that much oxygen out, I fear. On the other hand heat engines should be very effective on Titan because of the very low ambient temperature. It will take some exotic engineering to make full use of heat engines where the cold end is at 90 K, but the end result might be spectacular. Think of a steam turbine, then you use the waste heat from the condenser to heat the habitat, then you use the waste heat from the habitat to run a carbon dioxide based stirling engine then you use the waste heat from that to run a methane based stirling engine.... QUOTE Unfortunately, the only thing I can think of that would work well there would be nuclear energy, and you don't want to have to transport megatons of fissile materials all the way out to Saturn! Why not? Uranium-based reactor fuel is almost completely harmless until it has been irradiated. |
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