Titan Review article Options

[rlorenz]

This just out. Not earth-shattering, but colorful - maybe handy as an up-to-date
Titan intro

http://www.jhuapl.edu/techdigest/td2702/lorenz.pdf

[nprev]

Well, I was less than clear (again) in what I meant (sorry!)

Europa certainly needs & deserves attention, but frankly I'm not completely convinced that achieving major scientific objectives--confirmation of an ocean, ice thickness sounding, global high-res photographic coverage, plume search/monitoring--can't be accomplished via one or more Discovery missions in the relatively near term. We pretty much know what to look for at Europa and indeed throughout the entire Galliean satellite system. What we don't know is whether we can get to that putative ocean via any practical technology, but again that seems like something that could be determined on less than a Flagship-class level of effort. I think that the answer to that question is key for planning all future Europa exploration.

On the other hand, we've already landed on Titan; we know that we can conduct in situ exploration using reasonable evolutes of current technology, which becomes a trade-off between transit time/launch costs and science return. (Side note: this is why I still wish that there was an ongoing, organized effort by JPL or somebody to identify particularly favorable outer-planet launch opportunities). Titan is quite possibly at least as geochemically complex as Earth (with an outside chance of being more so). Therefore, to me, it seems as if there is a lot more science to be done at Titan than anywhere else in the Solar System

[ugordan]

... I'm not completely convinced that achieving major scientific objectives ... can't be accomplished via one or more Discovery missions in the relatively near term.

We're straying to the old Jovian-Saturnian system debate once again, which seems to come down to personal preference biasing everyone's opinions so we'll never all agree on what should be explored first.

I'd be interested in hearing how you envision a Discovery mission getting to Jupiter and doing any global coverage of Europa of the type you proposed? All the more importantly since IIRC the Delta II is being retired and causing the more expensive Atlas V to be used. Forgive me, but sending Discovery missions (which were all pretty much confined to a bit outside of Mars' orbit) to Jupiter seems like a far-fetched idea. Is there any document I missed that discusses such possibilities? We've had discussions about even New Frontiers missions being inadequate for in-depth Europa investigation.

[belleraphon1]

We're straying to the old Jovian-Saturnian system debate once again, which seems to come down to personal preference biasing everyone's opinions so we'll never all agree on what should be explored first.

ugordan... yes I kinda felt my original note really should have been in the OPAG thread. And you are right, we all have our own bias..... I do not see going back to Jupiter unless Europa is the utlimate focus.

I cannot see how to explore the outer solar system at less than $1billion. And if you are going to spend that kind of money, you cannot justify a Discovery class mission style that looks at just a small aspect of the scientific questions that beg data.

We can all hope for a day when nanobots can be launched, driven by nuclear rockets, on fast direct trajectories to there outer
destinations. For now we have to work with chemical rockets hurling heavy payloads.

I would love to see further exploration of all the outer planets (Uranus and Neptune beg to be orbited and probed). But the reality is, if we are going to launch any new outer planet mission soon, the technology and TIME is right to go back to Jupiter/Europa.

In the mean time, CASSINI will continue to refine our picture of Titan and Enceladus. We have a chance to watch seasons change on a world as complex as Earth. Let's enjoy the ride!

nprev, I love Titan, too!!!

Craig