Melina: O.K., Robert, I have just landed on Titan.
Mission Control: We copy that. Good luck with your research.
In order to penetrate Titan’s thick atmosphere my space ship needs to be very aerodynamic and fast. The atmosphere is primarily made up of nitrogen. Fortunately, there is no trace of oxygen because if mixed with even a small spark the whole moon could burst into flames. This does mean though, that I need to carry a large supply of oxygen with me. Upon landing on Titan immediately the pressure difference should have effected me. Fortunately,, my space suit was like a vacuum. With many layers of nylon and Kevlar for protection. Titan is the only moon with clouds and a dense atmosphere. Because of the atmosphere and Titan’s orbit being so far from the sun, there is very little light. Additionally, due to the lack of sun it is much colder than Earth, with an average temperature of -289° Fahrenheit. My space suit includes a very advance thermal control to maintain normal body temperature. Titan’s mass is less than Earth’s resulting with less gravity, therefore I find it most effective to have springs in my shoes; considering skipping is one very effective mean of transportation. However, a more favorable way to explore Titan is flying. Due to the thick atmosphere this is possible with only a set of wings ten feet long. Titan’s surface is shaped by physical landforms similar to Earth’s. There are many rives and lakes of liquid ethane and methane. In order to explore these bodies of liquid I'm using a manpowered machine (to avoid any fire sparks.) I choose to use something similar to a water bike. These rivers and lakes can lead to the formation of methane clouds. The droplets would be larger than raindrops and fall at a similar pace as snow. Fortunately, this only occurs once every few decades. Also, there are vast deserts with dunes. Hydrocarbons form grains that make up the “sand”. The rocks look similar to those on Earth but are formed by water ice. In order to see these though I need to use very bright flashlights.
| Titan Statistics | |
|---|---|
| Discovered by | Christiaan Huygens |
| Date of discovery | 1655 |
| Mass (kg) | 1.35e+23 |
| Mass (Earth = 1) | 2.2590e-02 |
| Equatorial radius (km) | 2,575 |
| Equatorial radius (Earth = 1) | 4.0373e-01 |
| Mean density (gm/cm^3) | 1.88 |
| Mean distance from Saturn (km) | 1,221,850 |
| Rotational period (days) | 15.94542 |
| Orbital period (days) | 15.94542 |
| Mean orbital velocity (km/sec) | 5.58 |
| Orbital eccentricity | 0.0292 |
| Orbital inclination (degrees) | 0.33 |
| Escape velocity (km/sec) | 2.65 |
| Visual geometric albedo | 0.21 |
| Magnitude (Vo) | 8.28 |
| Mean surface temperature | -178°C |
| Atmospheric pressure (bars) | 1.5 |
I love the conversation with mission control! Very creative!
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