AVIATR—Aerial Vehicle for In-situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance A Titan airplane mission concept
by Ken Edgett
(2012) **OPEN ACCESS**
J. W. Barnes, L. Lemke, R. Foch, C. P. McKay, R. A. Beyer, J. Radebaugh, D. H. Atkinson, R. D. Lorenz, S. Le Mouélic, S. Rodriguez, J. Gundlach, F. Giannini, S. Bain, F. M. Flasar, T. Hurford, C. M. Anderson, J. Merrison, M. Ádámkovics, S. A. Kattenhorn, J. Mitchell, D. M. Burr, A. Colaprete, E. Schaller, A. J. Friedson, K. S. Edgett, A. Coradini, A. Adriani, K. M. Sayanagi, M. J. Malaska, D. Morabito, K. Reh
Experimental Astronomy. doi:10.1007/s10686-011-9275-9
We describe a mission concept for a stand-alone Titan airplane mission: Aerial Vehicle for In-situ and Airborne Titan... more We describe a mission concept for a stand-alone Titan airplane mission: Aerial Vehicle for In-situ and Airborne Titan Reconnaissance (AVIATR). With independent delivery and direct-to-Earth communications, AVIATR could contribute to Titan science either alone or as part of a sustained Titan Exploration Program. As a focused mission, AVIATR as we have envisioned it would concentrate on the science that an airplane can do best: exploration of Titan’s global diversity. We focus on surface geology/hydrology and lower-atmospheric structure and dynamics. With a carefully chosen set of seven instruments—2 near-IR cameras, 1 near-IR spectrometer, a RADAR altimeter, an atmospheric structure suite, a haze sensor, and a raindrop detector—AVIATR could accomplish a significant subset of the scientific objectives of the aerial element of flagship studies. The AVIATR spacecraft stack is composed of a Space Vehicle (SV) for cruise, an Entry Vehicle (EV) for entry and descent, and the Air Vehicle (AV) to fly in Titan’s atmosphere. Using an Earth-Jupiter gravity assist trajectory delivers the spacecraft to Titan in 7.5 years, after which the AVIATR AV would operate for a 1-Earth-year nominal mission. We propose a novel ‘gravity battery’ climb-then-glide strategy to store energy for optimal use during telecommunications sessions. We would optimize our science by using the flexibility of the airplane platform, generating context data and stereo pairs by flying and banking the AV instead of using gimbaled cameras. AVIATR would climb up to 14 km altitude and descend down to 3.5 km altitude once per Earth day, allowing for repeated atmospheric structure and wind measurements all over the globe. An initial Team-X run at JPL priced the AVIATR mission at FY10 $715M based on the rules stipulated in the recent Discovery announcement of opportunity. Hence we find that a standalone Titan airplane mission can achieve important science building on Cassini’s discoveries and can likely do so within a New Frontiers budget.
Download (.pdf) Linear dunes on Titan and Earth: Initial remote sensing comparisons
Radebaugh, J., R. Lorenz, T. Farr, P. Paillou, C. Savage, C. Spencer, 2010. Linear dunes on Titan and Earth: Initial remote sensing comparisons. Geomorphology 121, 122-132.
Thousands of dunes found in Cassini Radar images of the equatorial regions of Titan, a moon around Saturn, are similar... more Thousands of dunes found in Cassini Radar images of the equatorial regions of Titan, a moon around Saturn, are similar in size and morphology to linear dunes on Earth. We present remote sensing images of terrestrial analogues to the dunes on Titan obtained by Landsat and radar, both at considerably higher resolution than are available at Titan, that provide information about dune landforms and processes. Dunes are generally dark to radar, indicating smooth surfaces and signal absorbing materials, but at certain incidence angles, dune surfaces can reflect the radar signal and lead to a bright return. Linear dunes on Titan and Earth diverge around topographic obstacles, creating teardrop patterns that indicate mean direction of wind flow and sand transport. When sand supply or wind conditions change in linear dune fields, such as behind an obstacle or near the margin of the dune field, dunes disappear, change size and spacing, or change dune type. These comparisons of features on Titan and Earth provide a better understanding of the global, sand-transporting wind directions, sand properties and supply, and the nature of the underlying substrate, on Titan.