NASA Approves Initial Funding for a Submarine to Titan

I think the money would be better spent finding what's in OUR Oceans.

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originally posted by: KawRider9
I think the money would be better spent finding what's in OUR Oceans.

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Then you need to talk to the NOAA, who also receives a very small budget (less than NASA's).

And you would also like to talk to the US Naval Research Laboratory, which receives it's funding from the US Navy and US Marine Corp.......

And of course guess who has the larger budget?

I am thoroughly uninterested in a sub on titan. There is nothing there, what do they expect to find? That sub should be going to europa or ganemede (sp?)

a reply to: Vdogg

By "nothing there" I think you meant that Titan is the only natural satellite with a dense atmosphere and is the only celestial body aside from earth with clear indications of stable surface liquids and is composed primarily if rock and water ice with a N2 and Methane atmosphere right? Yup, sounds like a whole lot of nothing interesting to me.

a reply to: Vdogg
Let's send one to Europa and Titan.

There must not be anything on Titan, otherwise we wouldn't be sending a submarine there.

Anyone else catch my drift?

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
There must not be anything on Titan, otherwise we wouldn't be sending a submarine there.

Anyone else catch my drift?

Let me guess, does it involve a conspiracy? Conspiracies are fun, aren't they?

a reply to: Rob48

In all seriousness, we'll probably learn some geology and whatnot. To most laypeople, nothing astounding or very interesting. Either that, or we'll basically confirm what we already previously thought we knew.

Probes are handy because they'll look only where you tell them to. It's a little harder to control where a human's gaze ends up.

a reply to: MystikMushroom

They've already sent a probe to Titan. That's how we know there are oceans there. Huygens landed on "dry land", though, hence the interest in sending a submarine.

a reply to: Rob48

A submarine it is then!

It must be painted yellow, however.

a reply to: peter vlar

By nothing there I mean nothing interesting as it relates to our search for extant life. Yes there are some organics, hydrocarbons, etc., but as far as life as we know it Titan is pretty far down the candidate list. I'm not saying don't explore it at all, I'm just saying that the moons with liquid water oceans beneath their crust should be the absolute priority.

a reply to: Vdogg
I and many others would disagree with your assessment of nothing interesting pertaining to sources of non terrestrial life. it's got all the makings available for life and we've already done the basic legwork, including dropping the Huygens probe onto the surface. we have more knowledge of what is there than other moons that are more interesting to you as a result. While it probably does contain H2O in liquid form beneath the ice, there is no definitive proof of it as yet on Europa, at least not in liquid. I personally don't know why project managers chose to go this particular route but I doubt they put on a blind fold and threw darts randomly to pick it. They have their reasons and the project is moving ahead so its all pretty moot.

Is it strange? we know almost nothing for our oceans and nasa is making a sub for titan? lol

originally posted by: peter vlar
a reply to: Vdogg
I and many others would disagree with your assessment of nothing interesting pertaining to sources of non terrestrial life. it's got all the makings available for life and we've already done the basic legwork, including dropping the Huygens probe onto the surface. we have more knowledge of what is there than other moons that are more interesting to you as a result. While it probably does contain H2O in liquid form beneath the ice, there is no definitive proof of it as yet on Europa, at least not in liquid. I personally don't know why project managers chose to go this particular route but I doubt they put on a blind fold and threw darts randomly to pick it. They have their reasons and the project is moving ahead so its all pretty moot.

There now is definitive evidence of liquid water on Europa. They detected liquid water geysers at its south pole similar to the plumes detected coming from Saturn's moon Enceladus.

SEE: New Scientist - Water plumes spark a race to Jupiter moon Europa

a reply to: JadeStar

AH! Thank you, I do indeed stand corrected.

originally posted by: Misinformation
a reply to: Jungian

Cassini isnt orbit around Titan , it orbits Saturn ...if their getting such fantastic pictures of Titan to base a submarine mission off of , then they must be lying about photographic capabilities of these various probes in orbit

Cassini dropped off the probe Huygens that once landed on Titan a few years back. Cassini has not been going in orbit only around Saturn. Gee.

originally posted by: MystikMushroom
a reply to: Rob48

In all seriousness, we'll probably learn some geology and whatnot. To most laypeople, nothing astounding or very interesting. Either that, or we'll basically confirm what we already previously thought we knew.

Its also possible, I dare say probable given the very different environment of Titan that we discover something we did not know previously.

No one has ever set foot in a methane ocean. We would truly be exploring an alien world which reminds us of home but is nothing at all like it.

Considering some of the implications of wikipedia articles like Life on Titan, Non water based life and the numerous articles on sites like Wired, Live Science and others i hope the yellow submarine has a live ish webcam.

oh and the mini probes should be used in tandem with this..like little webcam/sensor balls that can be left to float or be fixed in position.

originally posted by: Thorneblood
Considering some of the implications of wikipedia articles like Life on Titan, Non water based life and the numerous articles on sites like Wired, Live Science and others i hope the yellow submarine has a live ish webcam.

oh and the mini probes should be used in tandem with this..like little webcam/sensor balls that can be left to float or be fixed in position.

At those temperatures biochemistry slows WAY down. If anything is living on TItan it ain't going to be moving very fast. A sloth would likely seem speedy.

a reply to: JadeStar

Its likely IF and thats a very BIG IF there life on Titan it will be confined only to microorganisms.