Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to I Vote For Titan

How far down do we drill?

Hi REB

Titan's mantle is a long way down, aside from occasional cryovolcanism, so accessing it will be beyond a probe's abilities to sample. Dedicated SAR mapping of the place would be advantageous especially at a higher resolution than the current flyby scans. If a large melt region is spotted around a cryovolcano then that'd be ideal for a sampler mission.

Personally I think we're best waiting for a breakthrough propulsion system like Bussard fusors or some such to launch a manned mission. The multi-decadal wait between "big" missions bearing mere kilograms of instruments is just ridiculous. A flying car using a pusher-fan and a parasail would be ideal for exploring such a low-gravity dense-atmosphere environment.

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