NASA is planning to launch a new project, aiming to explore Titan’s seas. Titan is a moon of Saturn. In our solar system, only two planetary bodies have liquid lakes and seas: Earth and Titan. However, Titan instead of water, has lakes made of liquid methane with temperatures at almost -300° F.
In order to explore the seas of Titan, NASA wants to develop a submarine to explore extraterrestrial seas. The submarine will be sent to Titan’s largest northern sea, Kraken Mare.
The submarine will autonomously conduct detailed scientific investigations under the surface of Kraken Mare, providing data of an extraterrestrial sea and expanding existing capabilities in planetary exploration to include in situ nautical operations. Kraken Mare is comparable in size to the US Great Lakes.
This project wants to investigate a full spectrum of oceanographic phenomena: chemical composition of the liquid, surface and subsurface currents, mixing and layering in the “water” column, tides, wind and waves, bathymetry, and bottom features and composition.
“We have developed a concept to send a submarine to Titan’s largest northern sea. This craft would be loaded with scientific instruments that could carry out detailed investigations under the surface providing unprecedented knowledge of an extraterrestrial sea,” mentioned Steve Oleson of NASA Glenn’s COMPASS Lab.
The submarine will probably be launched in the next 20 years, because of the time needed to develop the hardware, travel time and the fact that seasons last seven years on Titan.