Description of Titan and Potential Approaches to its Exploration

AI Thread Summary
Titan's geology features a significant presence of organic molecules, making it a compelling target for exploration. NASA and ESA are set to launch the Titan Saturn System Mission, initially proposed in 2009 but delayed for various reasons. Despite the current focus on Mars, there is hope for renewed interest in exploring other celestial bodies like Titan. The mission is expected to launch between 2020 and 2029, with scientists anticipating intriguing discoveries. A podcast featuring Kevin Hand discusses NASA's planetary exploration initiatives, highlighting the importance of missions like Titan's.
BillTre
Science Advisor
Gold Member
2024 Award
Messages
2,681
Reaction score
11,618
TL;DR Summary
What is known of Titan, a moon of Saturn and How it Might be Explored in the Future
Titan's geology (involving a lot of organic molecules) is briefly described and possible appproaches to its exploration are discussed, in this NY Times article.

Screen Shot 2021-02-23 at 11.06.44 AM.png
 
Astronomy news on Phys.org
I read that NASA and ESA have planned to launch Titan Saturn System Mission. The project was created in 2009, but its implementation was postponed due to certain reasons. Nowadays, all space agencies are obsessed with Mars exploration, but I hope they'll continue exploring other important space objects. The launch of Titan Saturn System will be between 2020-2029. I suppose that scientists will find something interesting there.
 
Today at about 4:30 am I saw the conjunction of Venus and Jupiter, where they were about the width of the full moon, or one half degree apart. Did anyone else see it? Edit: The moon is 2,200 miles in diameter and at a distance of 240,000 miles. Thereby it subtends an angle in radians of 2,200/240,000=.01 (approximately). With pi radians being 180 degrees, one radian is 57.3 degrees, so that .01 radians is about .50 degrees (angle subtended by the moon). (.57 to be more exact, but with...
This thread is dedicated to the beauty and awesomeness of our Universe. If you feel like it, please share video clips and photos (or nice animations) of space and objects in space in this thread. Your posts, clips and photos may by all means include scientific information; that does not make it less beautiful to me (n.b. the posts must of course comply with the PF guidelines, i.e. regarding science, only mainstream science is allowed, fringe/pseudoscience is not allowed). n.b. I start this...
Back
Top