Manned Landing On Titan, Issues & Answers? Options

[nprev]

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?

[Juramike]

Nigel nailed it! There are lots of really good energy sources on Titan:

Wind - wind speeds low but fairly steady, but atmosphere is thicker than on Earth. And dunes give a great indicator of funneling of winds from topographical features. (Double Bonus, we can use dune features visible NOW to select best places for wind farms!)

"Hydro" - If any of the polar streams are flowing at rates even close to those predicted by dimension, there's a massive potential for methane fluid flow.

Geothermal - Findind a fairly recent crater could allow you to trap residual heat from liquid water-ammonia. Also, there might be circulating fluids down deep (molten water-ammonia? molten organics?). Water has good heat capacity due to it's phase change energy. (It releases lots of heat on crystallization)

Chemical - There may be natural organic ore bodies that could be useful for energy production. For example (and I'm speaking off the top of my head - someone would need to look at the energies to see if it would be useful), a deposit of pyridinium N-oxides might be equivalent of a fuel deposit on Earth. (Pyridinium N-oxide could be used as an oxidant). There could be other potential reactant bodies lying around (or easily mined) that are prevented from reacting due to kinetic barriers from normal Titan conditions. Add a catalyst, or enough heat to overcome the barrier, and bingo, you've got an energy source. (Maybe not as impressive as fire, but any exothermic reaction helps!)

Finally, what are then energies involved in splitting water, taking the oxygen, then burning hydrocarbon? (This might be "carbon neutral" on Titan - since you are swapping one IR absorber for another)

What are the energies for:

H2O --> H2 + O2 [uphill]
O2 + CH4 --> CO2 + H2O [downhill]
H2 + C2H4 (or C2H4) + cat --> C2H6 [downhill]


Titan has oodles of potential energy sources. We've got evidence of wind (Huygens drift and dunes), evidence for permanently flowing liquids is tanalizingly close, and exploitable chemical and geothermal sources will require more research and examination. (So surface exploration serves two roles: science and energy prospecting).

-Mike