Titan

Martin E

Facts

Largest Moon of Saturn.

Has an atmosphere containing mostly Nitrogen and

methane.

1 gram on Earth would weigh 0.14g on Titan.

Only know moon in our solar system to have a dense

atmosphere.

16 Earth day orbital period of Saturn.

The surface

The first probe to land on Titan was the Huygens Probe in 2005.

Pictures and data from the spacecraft revealed that Titan had Earth like landscapes and oceans of methane which eroded rocks smooth on the surface.

Atmosphere

Titan is the only known moon in the solar system to

have an atmosphere.

Titan’s atmosphere is made up of about 98.4% nitrogen,

with the remaining 1.6% made mostly of methane and

hydrogen.

Titan’s atmosphere is around 50% thicker than Earth’s.

As well as this, the atmosphere is very spread out due

to the low gravity on Titan.

Due to both of these factors, it would be possible to fly

out of Titan’s atmosphere with only a simple set of

wings.

Oceans

As well as an atmosphere, Titan has oceans of methane on its surface.

Just like Earth, these oceans carve out the landscape by eroding the rock.

On Earth, methane is usually only found in a gaseous form.

As it is so cold on Titan, methane can exist in solid, liquid and gaseous form, a bit like Earth’s water cycle.

It is thought that a liquid water ocean could exist beneath the methane (with the methane acting as an insulator to keep it in liquid form).

Landscape & Climate

Titan is extremely cold as it is over 1 billion km from the sun.

This means that it is covered with liquid methane; a chemical

which on Earth, is not stable enough to form a liquid.

The liquid methane shapes the beautiful landscapes you see

below.

Liquid methane has its own cycle. It rains, forms clouds and

flows just like water. However, the rain droplets are twice the

size of those on Earth.

Getting There

Reaching Titan is a difficult task

A mission must have many things to work:

Habitation for the surface.

Transport with enough habitation and fuel.

Working mechanisms to escape the highly

flammable Titan atmosphere.

Transport and habitation for the return as well

as suitable re entry modules.

RocketsTo reach the moon, only one rocket was needed…

For this mission we are using…

…10 rockets

Launches BreakdownThe First six are all heavy cargo lifters.

They transport the two habitation modules (HAB) and the Titan Assent

Vehicle (TAV) as well as the three propulsion stages for each.

TAVHABHABPropulsion

StagePropulsion

StagePropulsion

Stage

Launches BreakdownThe next three launches are

also heavy cargo lifters.

These carry the two propulsion

stages for the crew transport

habitat (CTH).

Each of the segments dock in

Low Earth Orbit (LEO) to form

the titan transport vehicle Aeris

(Latin for air).

Aeris I

Crew Launch

The crew arrive at

Aeris by launching

on an SLS Crew

Vehicle.

After 2 minutes the

solid rocket

boosters (SRB)

separate.

After a further 6

minutes, the core stage

is jettisoned along with

the escape tower and

panel fairings.

The third stage then

powers the Orion Capsule

to LEO.

The third stage is

jettisoned and Orion opens

its solar panels.

Orion Capsule

Docking & Leaving

The Orion Spacecraft docks with Aeris and the crew get on-board

One crew member stays behind and takes the Orion Capsule towards the ISS

(International Space Station).

Aeris then fires its engines and leaves LEO for Titan.

Flight CourseNot To Scale

It would be impossible to fire an

engine all the way to Saturn as it

would require too much fuel.

Instead, Aeris will fire its rockets

to Mars.

When it reaches the red planet, it

will use the gravity to slingshot

around to Jupiter.

Jupiter will then give the big

push that is needed to reach

Saturn

The first flight will launch on the 14th

October 2020 as that is when the

Planets next come into alignment.

Entering TitanAs Aeris arrives at Titan, three landing craft will separate and land, each carrying 10 crew

members.

These craft are called Aura I, II & III ( Greek Titaness of the breeze)

Friction against the base of the space craft glows

as Aura experiences hypersonic aero assisted

deceleration.

This slows the space craft from 30,000 km/h to

around 1,000 km/h

Reaching the SurfaceDespite the deceleration from

the atmosphere, Aura is still

traveling at over 1,000

km/hour!

Two drogue chutes are first

deployed. This slows Aura to 20m/s.

60 seconds later, the three main

parachutes will deploy, slowing the

space craft down to a steady 6m/s

(15mph)

30 seconds after that, floating

landing gear deploys and Aura lands

on a methane ocean.

Getting to Land

Parachutes

Neosi Carrier

Hydraulic Deployment

Hypersonic thrusters

Supplies storage

Heat shield

A speed boat like carrier (Neosi) transports

crew from Aura to the HABs

Aura

Activities

There are many Sports that can be done on Titan. These include:

Swimming – Since the gravity is so low, it is possible to leap out of the methane oceans like a dolphin.

Hiking – There are plenty of mountains to climb. They should be much easier to climb than Earth's mountains as the gravity is much lower.

Flying – Due to Titan’s atmosphere being 50% thicker than Earth’s, all that is needed to fly unassisted is a small set of wings (1m each) strapped to your arms.

Returning to orbitGetting off Titan is difficult as it has a highly

flammable atmosphere meaning rockets cannot

be used.

Instead, the TAV uses a hydrogen balloon which

lifts the vehicle most of the way.

It is only when the atmosphere has become thin

enough that it will not catch fire that engines will

be fired.

This will power the TAV into orbit where it docks

with Aeris.

The TAV is then jettisoned before Aeris leaves

Titan.

Return CourseNot To Scale

Aeris will slingshot around Saturn on a

straight course for Earth.

It will arrive at Earth on 30th August

2023, almost three years after leaving

Re entry

As Aeris is captured into LEO, the Orion

space craft will dock and pick up the crew.

Orion will then jettison its service module

and enter Earth’s atmosphere.

Parachutes & landingTwo drogue chutes will deploy for 23

seconds slowing the spacecraft to less

than mach 1.

The main chutes will then open in stages.

3%, 40% & 100%.

Orion will splash down in the Pacific

ocean at around 20 mph.

Thank You For Listening!