Quote:
Originally posted by Titanian+Dec 20 2004, 04:32 PM--></div><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (Titanian @ Dec 20 2004, 04:32 PM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'> <!--QuoteBegin-qraal@Dec 17 2004, 12:12 AM
The plot of Titan's atmosphere - or our current model - is interesting in light of plans by JP Aerospace for slow rising ion-powered airships to reach orbit. I am not sure if such would ever work on Earth since orbital velocity is so high, drag would overwhelm any lift. Yet Titan's orbital velocity is a much lower 1675 m/s at an altitude of 625 km - combined with the low gravity surely Titan is the world for Orbiter airships.
Yet perhaps they aren't needed beyond the first forays. The Saturn-Titan Lagrange 1 and 2 points aren't very far away at all - 52,400 km inwards and outwards from Titan with respect to Saturn. A Space Elevator could very easily be built with the centre of mass parked at L1/2 and it would be shorter than the proposed elevator for the Moon. Such a system would open up Titan to colonisation or at least advanced exploration by humans.
Ultimately the immense amounts of nitrogen in Titan's atmosphere could be exported to Mars - if terraforming is ever a serious option for that planet. Immense spheres of gas could be haulled into space and released at the right height for a swingby of Saturn and a plunge in towards Mars.
qraal
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Here is a website exclusively devoted to Titan:
www.titanexploration.com [/b][/quote]
We know that the Huygens probe is going to land between a dark area and a bright area.If it's on the "dark side" of Titan and not on the opposite side constantly facing Saturn, we have no chance of getting an image with Saturn on the horizon though it's unlikely that Saturn is visible through the deep and opaque atmosphere of Titan.
www.titanexploration.com