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 27 2007, 05:53 AM
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Senior Member Group: Members Posts: 3419 Joined: 9-February 04 From: Minneapolis, MN, USA Member No.: 15 |
What still concerns me about any operations on Titan (manned or unmanned) is the rather phenomenal temperature difference at which terrestrial machines and organisms (i.e., us) can operate versus Titan's natural environment.
Any terrestrial outpost or machinery is going to add *significant* amounts of heat to the Titanian environment. If ever there was a situation where observing a phenomenon affects that phenomenon, this is it. We may have to figure out how to develop robots that can operate entirely at Titanian temperatures before we set out to study the place at close range, because the heat our current technology would be pumping into the local materials will change them in innumerable ways, and we won't see them as they've developed in situ. -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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