Posted on 07/27/2017 6:22:41 AM PDT by ETL
(Newser) – Move over, Mars: Titan could be the best place for a human colony. As far as extraterrestrial bodies go, Saturn's largest moon is surprisingly like Earth, with a dense atmosphere that could shield delicate earthlings from radiation, reports New Scientist. Titan's candidacy as a settlement isn't new, but a fresh analysis shows the yellow moon has valuable energy sources that could power a settlement. Per Science Alert, Amanda Hendrix and Yuk Yung write that once propulsion issues of getting there are tackled, Titan is the "optimal location in the solar system for an off-Earth human settlement." Some 808 million miles away, self-sustainability on Titan is key. Robots and even humans could one day make nuclear power by using radioactive decay there. The scientists say solar power could come from a US-sized solar farm, even though Titan is nearly 10 times farther from the sun than Earth is.
Titan's strong winds could also be put to use, if humans learn to build strong-enough turbines. Powerful tides created by Saturn's pull could be harnessed for hydropower, though little rain adds complications. Titan could even be a crash pad on the road to more-distant exploration; ample methane-laced lakes may be mined for rocket fuel. "As a resource for long-term, solar-system-wide civilization, Titan would be a pivotal place," a Johns Hopkins University researcher tells New Scientist. Researchers concede, however, that there are many unknowns, including Titan's geology. And, they say, Earth's own technology will have to improve before it can be exported. (Mars is more toxic than previously thought.)
Bit of a long commute to Titan, tho, compared to Mars.
Not if we have to keep paying welfare benefits to every ‘disadvantaged’ goober in the world.
No space suit required just real warm clothes and an oxygen system to breathe . Pressure is about 1.5 bars.
Yes! More absurd stuff from people who cannot distinguish science fiction from reality. One thing these space kadets have in common is a total lack of understanding of economics as in how much will it cost to put a human on Mars let alone a colony, and what is the ROE from such a venture (answer = zero). Considering titan is much further away the costs are orders of magnitude higher, but the return still is the same (zero).
While I didn’t read the whole article, every single item in the excerpt is jaw-dropping wrong.
Good. Hopefully we can begin shipping all the Libs there in a decade or two.
The scientists say solar power could come from a US-sized solar farm...
A solar farm the size of the U S? Are these so called scientists even thinking when they say something as absurd as this? They may as well propose anchoring a fusion rocket motor to Titan and moving it to a better location in the inner Solar System. That would be more practical.
At about 35 miles per second, one could travel to Titan in about ten months. This would be about the same speed as of Mercury (the fastest planet) in its orbit around the sun, so it is doable, though it would take a quantum (no pun intended) leap in technology to make it happen, one that can only be imagined today.
Do you read what you write?
though it would take a quantum (no pun intended) leap in technology to make it happen, one that can only be imagined today.
Which means it is NOT doable, but merely science fiction. The Cassini probe too 7 YEARS to get to Saturn, and was only able to get there using gravity slingshot maneuvers.
The deltaV requirements to get to Mars vs. Titan are negligible. Duration is longer, obviously, but the fuel requirements are not too bad.
The highest deltaV requirements are to get off of Earth. Once in space, orbital mechanics are such that we could get there with little effort.
Taking advantage of a gravity assist around Mars and/or Jupiter, and aerobraking near Saturn to circularize into a stable orbit would save even more fuel. If we had a refueling depot on the moon, we could negate the cost of putting the ship into orbit by just sending empty LOX tanks, or they could use hypergolic fuels if they didn’t want to worry about boil off.
Thanks anyway, but I prefer heaven.
Average temperature on Mars is -84 F compared to -290 on Titan. There aren’t enough warm coats in the whole universe for either.
It ain't the atmosphere, it's the magnetosphere and ionosphere.
Ping.
It’s absolutely doable. The problem is money.
Putting humans into LEO is so easy we do it every month. We have at least 3 commercial ventures working now to put regular, reusable crafts into orbit. We could make it to the moon, Mars, or even Titan with manned spacecraft today with the technology we have available right now.
Orbital science and astrophysics are understood, and the math works out within nominal mission requirements. We just need investors to believe in the project and infrastructure in Earth orbit and preferably on the moon.
Believe it or not, if we could get a working, manned colony on the moon, develop technologies there related to colonization, habitats, life support, and refueling, going anywhere else in the solar system is of little consequence.
The moon is one of the harshest (available) environments in our solar system. There’s no atmosphere at all and very low gravity. Anywhere else we would go in the solar system has at least some semblance of an atmosphere and more gravity than our own moon. If we can develop sustainable habitats on the moon, that technology would translate directly to other environs in our own solar system.
We just need money. The science is solid.
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