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, 03:08 PM
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Member Group: Members Posts: 903 Joined: 30-January 05 Member No.: 162 |
'Tracking in' materials from outside might be complicated by some of the materials possibly formed outdoors not being particularly volatile below 0 C. Kerogen (or precursors) have been tenatively ID'd on asteroids, and might occur on Titan too. Polymerized Titanian 'gunk' might have to be carefully scrutinized by Huygen successors to assess the dangers. Additionally, our earthian environment is characterized by a polar solvent, water, and we are most skilled and experienced with that. Titan seems to have a 'hydrological' cycle driven by a non-polar fluid, and probe design will be challenging in regards to material properties and chemical effects.
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Nov 26 2007, 03:47 PM
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Senior Member Group: Moderator Posts: 2785 Joined: 10-November 06 From: Pasadena, CA Member No.: 1345 |
Titan seems to have a 'hydrological' cycle driven by a non-polar fluid, and probe design will be challenging in regards to material properties and chemical effects. Material properties and challenges of exploring a hydrocarbon environment have been done on Earth. There is a huge amount of experience designing probes for gas pipelines and hazardous chemical reactors that could be used. I don't think there are any chemical conditions that could exist on Titan that haven't already been dealt with somewhere in a chemical manufacturing process, save for the extreme cold. Check out "pigging" of pipelines: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pigging [EDIT: Could this be Doug's Next Big Robotic Project? ] The basic amines that might be present would be a slight chemical challenge to some plastics and polymers due to their corrosive nature (gum rubber would be a bad idea). But Titan is in an overall reducing environment, so the rust and oxidation of metal components won't be a problem. -Mike -------------------- Some higher resolution images available at my photostream: http://www.flickr.com/photos/31678681@N07/
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