11/8/2024 – Vincent Zhao
In this blog post, I will cover the details and background information of our chosen planet Titan and pretext for vehicle design possibilities
For our planet, our group chose Titan because of its unique environment and resources that make it ideal for exploration and transportation. Quite frankly, we were initially considering Titan solely due to its habitability criteria, assuming that the most habitable areas must reflect the characteristics of earth’s natural formation in some way – making it easier for us to actually simulate and prototype. From research we discovered Titan possesses a dense atmosphere, about 50% thicker than Earth’s, which supports the travel of objects through its own space.
It also has methane and ethane lakes that we can convert into fuel for sustainable travel. Additionally, the presence of water ice and a potential subsurface ocean – by comparing Titan’s deep-sea environments to Earth’s hydrothermal vents – suggests a possibility for water extraction, adding to Titan’s suitability for exploration and habitablity (Martin et al., 2019).
Therefore, Aidan, Joe, and I decided to choose this planet based on these favourable conditions.
These opportunities on our new home planet allowed us to craft a defining statement, in which we will adhere to and align our design thinking process with
Our mission is to design a human operable transportation vehicle capable of a reliable 5-kilometer round-trip journey. This vehicle will navigate Titan’s dense atmosphere – 50% more than earth’s – and surface gravity of 1.35 m/s² efficiently, allowing for stable travel to and from an assumed habitat. By using Titan’s natural resources for fuel, the vehicle will operate sustainably, maximizing range in this extraterrestrial environment.
Possible challenges
That being said, all exploration comes with limits and hinderances. For testing, the extreme cold on Titan, which averages land temperatures of around 181.75°C (91.4 K), is a challenge in terms of equipment durability and performance test (Jennings, 2016). Titan’s low gravity, 1.354 m/s^2 makes the testing of vehicles that must maintain stability and function under these conditions extremely difficult. Additionally, surface composed of solid water ice (ice-VI) and methane lakes is difference from ice on earth, also difficult to simulate its properties accurately. These environmental factors need creative solutions to try and attempt to simulate the conditions.
Implications for vehicle design
Titans unique combination of atmosphere density and low gravity and create good possibilities for efficient transport. Titan’s dense atmosphere, which is about 50% denser than Earth’s, and the 1.5m/s^2 gravity makes it really efficient and solid for flying vehicles. This thick atmosphere provides lift with less energy, allowing our designed vehicle to travel efficiently and use less fuel over an extended length. Additionally, Titan’s stable surface and higher air pressure reduces the stress on engines and structural components. An example is the more recent dragonfly space probe that NASA has designed to fly around Titan’s surface in the future, having a drone tilt design:
Lastly, it would also be quite a nuisance having to create a land vehicle operating on the surface of titan as we do not know exactly what challenges it might pose. The icy surface and lakes of ethane, methane, and possibly even icy plains only give us a more compelling reason to resort to flight.
Credibility and accuracy of information
The Cassini-Huygens mission, conducted from 2004 to 2017, provided the majority of what we know about Titan’s unique characteristics. Cassini orbited Saturn and captured detailed data on Titan’s atmosphere, gravity, and surface (Sotin & Kalousová, 2021), while the Huygens probe went through Titan’s dense atmosphere to measure temperature, pressure, density, and surface conditions directly. Instruments like the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) mapped Titan’s surface temperatures (Jennings, 2016), and gravitational data collected from orbit helped us infer the presence of a subsurface ocean (Martin et al., 2019). These precise observations were supported by data from multiple instruments, validating the accuracy of key measurements on temperature, atmospheric density, and pressure. Additionally, the article that Kronrod & Dunaeva published in 2020 provided me with a data table of the physical parameters of Titan and its interior, which was very helpful as they cited their sources as well and I could basically just use it as my references, as it is second hand information. Overall, we need to be very meticulous in planning and researching information that involves outer space, and using online databases such as the St. George’s senior learning commons EBSCO, which allowed me to find all of my peer reviewed articles and read the full text to properly find the information.
References
Hirtzig, M. (n.d.). A review of Titan’s atmospheric phenomena. 10.1007/s00159-009-0018-0
Jennings, D. E. (2016). Astrophysical Journal Letters. 816(L17). 10.3847/2041-8205/816/1/L17
Kronrod, V. A., & Dunaeva, A. N. (2020). Matching of Models of the Internal Structure and Thermal Regime of Partially Differentiated Titan with Gravity Field. Solar System Research. ebsco. 10.1134/S0038094620050044
Martin, K., SM, M., & Barnes, J. (2019). Protein Stability in Titan’s Subsurface Water Ocean. Europe pmc. 10.1089/ast.2018.1972
McKinney,, M., & Mitchell, J. (2022). Effects of Varying Land Coverage, Rotation Period, and Water Vapor on Equatorial Climates that Bridge the Gap between Earth-like and Titan-like. 10.1175/JAS-D-21-0295.1Sotin, C.,
Kalousová, K. (2021). Titan’s Interior Structure and Dynamics After the Cassini-Huygens Mission. annualreviews. 10.1146/annurev-earth-072920-052847
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