PARIS: When you think of potential spacecraft to help us better understand our own solar system, a submarine is probably the last thing on your mind. But NASA is considering just that for their exploration of Saturn’s moon Titan.
The space agency revealed the submarine design at their NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts symposium in Cocoa Beach, Fla. earlier this week. They hope to use the sub to explore the oceans of Saturn’s largest moon in 2040.
Scientists are particularly interested in Kraken Mare, a 154,000 sq. mi. ocean that features tides like Earth.
If scientists manage to overcome the distance issues (Titan is roughly 1.2 billion kilometers from Earth) the 2,200 pound submarine will have its own set of issues getting to the Kraken Mare. The heavy sub cannot simply be dropped into the ocean and must be delivered by a space-capable plane.
The submarine will traverse the sea (which is a bracing -290 degrees Fahrenheit) on the power of a 1kW radiothermal Stirling generator. The generator will allow the sub to travel at speeds of around 2.2 miles per hour.
The submarine would need to be programmed to operate autonomously as any transmissions between NASA and Titan would take two hours. Thee submarine will spend 16 hours per day on the surface of Kraken Mare, transmitting data to NASA via an antenna housed on the submarine’s dorsal fin. While on the surface, the sub will still be collecting valuable data via its own mast camera.
All told NASA wants the sub to perform a 90 day mission covering 1250 miles on our far off and watery neighbor.
