[Video] The concept of a submarine for the study of the seas on the satellite of Saturn Titan

At the recent NASA Institute for Advanced Ideas Symposium, the agency’s engineers presented the design of the vehicle and the concept of hydrocarbon seas exploration on Saturn’s moon , which describes the conceptual design of a submarine designed to study the polar regions on Titan. It is possible that this mission will become a reality by 2040.

According to data transmitted in 2005 from the Huygens probe, the satellite of Saturn has three large polar seas, consisting of methane and ethane. Their mixture in their physical properties corresponds to terrestrial liquefied natural gas. The largest of the seas — the Kraken Sea — mapped the Cassini apparatus. Sea depth is unknown, but its length is more than 1000 km. It is proposed to explore its automatic submarine around the perimeter, then moving to the center of the sea.


Location of the future expedition
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The apparatus for the study will be a kind of earth submarine weighing about a ton, as a source of energy which will be used a radioisotope Stirling generator . It is assumed that the length of its route will be about 2000 km, and the duration of the mission will be approximately 90 days.

Due to the form, which is not typical for descent vehicles, the delivery of a submarine along the surface of the Kraken Sea can be accomplished with the help of an X-37 class winged vehicle. It will be able to land on the surface of the sea, like a seaplane, after which it will sink, leaving the submarine on the surface. An alternative option is to dump the submarine at a low altitude and descend it by parachute. After orienting and testing its systems, it should also fall below sea level, starting its work.

The speed of the device should be about 1 m / s, navigation will be carried out using an inertial system and a Doppler meter . To communicate with the Earth and transmit data, the submarine will have to float to the surface - a communication session is planned for up to 16 hours. This is favored by a good location: during the winter on Titan, which lasts 29.5 Earth years, the Earth from the Kraken Sea is almost always visible above the horizon, excluding some of its southern regions.


General view of the submarine

Colorful conceptual video of the mission published by NASA: