• New photos from Saturn's moon Titan reveals lakes and salt-flats
    32 replies, posted
[img_thumb]http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/files/2013/10/Cassini-Titan-summer-2013.jpg[/img_thumb] [quote]Weather on Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, cleared this past summer, allowing NASA’s Cassini spacecraft to beam back revealing views of the giant lakes and Earth-like salt-flats that adorn the frozen mini-world. Northern spring is kicking into high gear on the ringed giant’s largest moon, bringing with it clear breaks from the cloudy winter weather. That is finally allowing the orbiter’s infrared instruments to get a clear glimpse of the seas of liquid methane and ethane on the moon. (See “Spring Rains Darken Saturn’s Moon Titan.”)[/quote] [quote]Other than Earth, Titan is the only other world in the solar system that appears to have stable bodies of liquid on its surface, except on this distant moon because surface temperatures are a nippy – 290 degrees Fahrenheit, the liquids here are not water but hydrocarbon[/quote] [url=http://newswatch.nationalgeographic.com/2013/10/25/new-titan-photos-showcase-lakes-and-salt-flats/]NatGeo[/url] [editline]27th October 2013[/editline] No smoking
It still blows my mind we can get images like this from so far away. Technology is wonderful.
come on america, do us all a favour you know you want it anyway
Since we can make rocket engines that burn methane, can't we basically turn Titan into an orbiting fuel depot? [quote] surface temperatures are a nippy – 290 degrees Fahrenheit[/quote] oh.
[QUOTE=Em See;42671279]come on america, do us all a favour you know you want it anyway[/QUOTE] Must...resist...urge...to...spread freedom....
[QUOTE=OvB;42671301]Since we can make rocket engines that burn methane, can't we basically turn Titan into an orbiting fuel depot? oh.[/QUOTE] You would need the oxygen to go with that methane still, tho, which would make it only half efficient as you would still need to bring your oxygen from earth.
[QUOTE=OvB;42671301]Since we can make rocket engines that burn methane, can't we basically turn Titan into an orbiting fuel depot? oh.[/QUOTE] Let's just light the back of Titan on fire, turning it into a giant rocket, and put it in orbit around Earth to warm it up
[QUOTE=Em See;42671279]come on america, do us all a favour you know you want it anyway[/QUOTE] But does it have oil
titan is the best moon
I must admit part of me would be interested to see the effect of dropping a spark on titan and seeing the outcome.
[QUOTE=Source;42672523]I must admit part of me would be interested to see the effect of dropping a spark on titan and seeing the outcome.[/QUOTE] absolutely nothing, given there's no oxygen
I could see like space freighters basically going back and forth from titan filling up and coming back over years and years! that'd be interesting! OR! we could have a space station or series of space stations that can propel the ship faster if we finally get the technology or figure out how to accelerate at high speeds or teleport without killing people. That would be so neat! I wish I could see what we do as a human race in the future if we come together and work on space exploration etc. That'd be so fucking cool!
[QUOTE=shian;42672258]But does it have oil[/QUOTE] Doesn't matter, if there's none we'll just say terrorists have wmd's there or something.
[QUOTE=Katatonic717;42671220]It still blows my mind we can get images like this from so far away. Technology is wonderful.[/QUOTE] Indeed it is. Titan is definitely a really awesome place, and probably one of the most interesting moons in the solar system. We've even got a surface picture from it, and radar pictures that show an incredible amount of large hydrocarbon lakes: [t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Huygens_surface_color_sr.jpg[/t] [t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/Liquid_lakes_on_titan.jpg/367px-Liquid_lakes_on_titan.jpg[/t] Truly amazing the things we can find out about some really incredible places.
[QUOTE=BrainDeath;42672498]titan is the best moon[/QUOTE] but what about Enceladus dude Encelaaaaaadus
[QUOTE=OvB;42671301]Since we can make rocket engines that burn methane, can't we basically turn Titan into an orbiting fuel depot?[/QUOTE] Given that Titan is a gravity well with an escape velocity at surface of 2.6km/s, it would be more efficient to seek fuel elsewhere. Especially since with something like a nuclear rocket, basically a prerequisite for getting there in the first place, you can use pretty much anything as reaction mass.
[QUOTE=Cone;42673238]but what about Enceladus dude Encelaaaaaadus[/QUOTE] Enceladus doesn't have its own Astartes chapter.
[QUOTE=LarparNar;42673179]Indeed it is. Titan is definitely a really awesome place, and probably one of the most interesting moons in the solar system. [B]We've even got surface [U]pictures[/U] from it[/B], and radar pictures that show an incredible amount of large hydrocarbon lakes: [t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Huygens_surface_color_sr.jpg[/t] [t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/Liquid_lakes_on_titan.jpg/367px-Liquid_lakes_on_titan.jpg[/t] Truly amazing the things we can find out about some really incredible places.[/QUOTE] we have exactly one picture from the surface of titan
[QUOTE=BrainDeath;42673719]we have exactly one picture from the surface of titan[/QUOTE] Woops. That's right. Correcting.
[QUOTE=shian;42672258]But does it have oil[/QUOTE] "Invasion plans set in after Saturn's moon Titan is suspected of harboring and funding members of Al-Qaeda."
as much as I love mars I think visiting moons like these would be far more beneficial and interesting. especially europa.
[QUOTE=StupidUsername67;42674285]as much as I love mars I think visiting moons like these would be far more beneficial and interesting. especially europa.[/QUOTE] Stay away from Europa. Attempt no landing there.
[QUOTE=Mr._N;42671302]Must...resist...urge...to...spread freedom....[/QUOTE] Dude there are DIAMOND RAINS in Saturn, dunno how it was not liberated yet lol [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24477667[/url]
Can someone explain how pictures are sent from these cameras back to Earth?
[QUOTE=Beerminator;42674757]Dude there are DIAMOND RAINS in Saturn, dunno how it was not liberated yet lol [url]http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-24477667[/url][/QUOTE] Don't we have an abundance of diamonds already, though
[QUOTE=LarparNar;42673179]Indeed it is. Titan is definitely a really awesome place, and probably one of the most interesting moons in the solar system. We've even got a surface picture from it, and radar pictures that show an incredible amount of large hydrocarbon lakes: [t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/70/Huygens_surface_color_sr.jpg[/t] [t]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4b/Liquid_lakes_on_titan.jpg/367px-Liquid_lakes_on_titan.jpg[/t] Truly amazing the things we can find out about some really incredible places.[/QUOTE] Why didn't we take more pictures? Surely they could have taken more than just one surface photo, even if they couldn't move the camera they still had all that time during the landing process to snap photos. According to Wikipedia, this was taken as it was landing: [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/050114huygens1.jpg[/img] I don't know why it's so small but you can see little rivers and stuff. Pretty amazing that we managed to get something all the way out there.
[QUOTE=mugofdoom;42682730]Why didn't we take more pictures? Surely they could have taken more than just one surface photo, even if they couldn't move the camera they still had all that time during the landing process to snap photos. According to Wikipedia, this was taken as it was landing: [img]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/36/050114huygens1.jpg[/img] I don't know why it's so small but you can see little rivers and stuff. Pretty amazing that we managed to get something all the way out there.[/QUOTE] It broke/froze if I remember correctly.
[QUOTE=TheChantzGuy;42682549]Can someone explain how pictures are sent from these cameras back to Earth?[/QUOTE] To begin with, communication is typically done via radio waves, just like your wifi router or a cell phone. Commands can be sent to the probe, and the probe can send data back to Earth. Since the distances involved are relatively enormous, and since radio waves can only go as fast as the speed of light, there is typically a large delay between when a command is transmitted and when it is recieved; the same delay applies to data transmitted to us from the probe. Now, suppose the camera on the probe snaps a picture. Just like a bitmap on your computer, the probe stores this image data as a collection of pixels in its onboard memory. If you're not tech-savvy, each pixel stores the color values of the image at a particular point; you can see physical pixels by looking very closely at your computer monitor, where each element has a red, green, and blue component. The pixels of the probe's photo aren't physical elements; they exist in the probe's memory as binary sequences of 1s and 0s. At a predetermined time, or when requested by mission control, the probe sends a radio transmission back towards Earth. A radio wave can be modulated so that the radio waves can be interpreted as a series of highs and lows, or on and offs, or in this case, binary 1s and 0s. The probe transmits the image by sending each pixel's binary sequence in one long string of radio pulses. Mission control receives this long string of pulses, assigns each pulse as a binary 1 or 0, and assembles them back into a collection of pixels which represent the original image. Usually, there is a lot of post-processing done to enhance and tidy the images before they are released to the public.
[QUOTE=OvB;42682789]It broke/froze if I remember correctly.[/QUOTE] Spent some time on Wikipedia, apparently it was a programming error on NASA's part which lead it to not transmit a lot of the information it received correctly. Still it apparently took 350 photos during its descent and time on the moon. [url]http://www.space.com/16130-titan-landing-saturn-moon-huygens-pictures.html[/url] I found these, so there are more photos of the surface, just not directly from the surface, more from within the atmosphere as it was descending. There's some pretty amazing aerial photos in there.
[QUOTE=mugofdoom;42682730]Why didn't we take more pictures?[/QUOTE] The lander actually took 700 photos during its decent and time on the surface, but only half of them made it to Cassini because of a communications error. A lot of the remaining 350 were assembled into larger mosaic pictures, which are the high-resolution images we have. It also only carried enough power for around 3 hours of operation, including the 2.5 hours needed for decent, meaning there was very little time for it to take and transmit pictures. During this time, Cassini was moving extremely quickly and the probe/lander weren't capable of maintaining communications as the distances and angles became more extreme. TLDR: It did the best it could have done.
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