Just for fun - 30 minutes of probe data Options

[NickF]

Suppose you could have 30 minutes worth of robotic probe data from any object in the Solar System (either in orbit around it or from the surface). The technology used should not be significantly advanced from that in use today (no tachyon scanners). What target would you choose, and why?

I think my choice would have to be a mini-submarine in the sunless seas on Europa equipped with a video camera (and a suitably strong source of light), a hydrophone and a mass spectrometer. Imagine hearing the creak of the ice, catching a glimpse of something unexpected on the camera and MS data of unusually complex organic molecules.

Well I can dream, right?

[ugordan]

Europa would be my first choice, too. Getting anything below that ice would be one of the most difficult feats ever so those 30 mins would not go to waste

My 2nd choice would be a probe on the shore of one of Titan's lakes. Probably would be the single most alien scene in the entire solar system.

[djellison]

Europa ocean as well for me

Take the Beagle 2 mini mass-spec, and Pancam .

And floodlights.

[Juramike]

My vote would be for a surface image and chemical analysis of the Equatorial Bright terrain on Titan a la Phoenix on Mars.

Is it deposit covered, is it raw bedrock? Is there a surface coating? Is it uniform or are there runnels everywhere? Can a drill reveal fresher surface material?

Images of the terrain before and after drilling would be key. With only 30 minutes, you'd drill blind and image after, placing both samples into the respective ovens.

An initial GC run of methane added to both samples stuff would give the initial background.

A quick thaw in an oven to melt the ice and into the GCMS would narrow the guesses to the surface constituents*. (Or at least help constrain them).

*after the surface materials have been exposed to non-native aqueous conditions at elevated temperatures and then subjected to vaporization, ionization and further heating.

[This mission would be complementary to a Titan lake mission - here you'd get the background rock, and the insoluble surface coating. The lake lander will give information on the soluble chemical species.]

[ngunn]

For sheer spectacle I'd sit on well placed rim overlooking one of Io's volcanoes. For information I'd go to a Titan lake. I'll pass on the big dark underwater non-event.

[NickF]

My 2nd choice would be a probe on the shore of one of Titan's lakes. Probably would be the single most alien scene in the entire solar system.

For pretty picture value alone I'd go for Charon hanging in the sky over the frozen wastes of a Plutonian landscape.

[DDAVIS]

I would place a probe with a TV camera near a Martian polar 'geyser' and capture 30 FPS video when it is active.

[Geert]

The shore of one of the lakes on Titan, overlooking the beach and the lake, as has been mentioned already that must be something to behold!

Second choice would be somewhere within a safe distance of a volcano on Io.

[ElkGroveDan]

I think a powerful multispectral imager from the surface of Nix while the other three bodies are all overhead.

[Guest_Sunspot_*]

Would a lake front spot on Titan really look dramatically different to a scene from Earth?

I think I would go for a volcano on Io or maybe the view from the top or bottom of here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Verona_Rupes

[machi]

So much interesting objects in our Solar system! Lander on top of Tohil Mons and wonderfull look down to Radegast Patera.
Or lander near Triton geyser. Or something crazy, like rafting in Titan river. But in the end, Europa is the winner.

[climber]

Solar system you said. Is Earth eligible?
Europa also first for me IF we can get to the ocean first
A 30 minutes pose near a vent on a comet will be nice too.
Anyway any volcano on IO would give the best scenari

[imipak]

...(either in orbit around it or from the surface).

Thirty minutes of data from a flagship mission on a close Europa flyby. In situ on Europa you'd run the risk of seeing either very cold featureless cloudy water, or an extreme close-up of one of many different types of icy terrain. I'd trade wider coverage for lower resolution.

[centsworth_II]

...Europa also first for me IF we can get to the ocean first
A 30 minutes pose near a vent on a comet will be nice too....

How about thirty minutes near a vent in Europa's ocean?

[Michael Capobian...]

In addition to all the other great places, especially Triton's polar geysers, I'd put a camera on Iapetus at one of the bright/dark boundaries at the warmest part of the day to see if the sublimation/darkening process is actually visible.