Hi it’s me Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut
NASA’s considering sending a nuclear powered flying robotic laser guided quadcopter drone
to a world with oceans, rain and maybe one of the best views in our solar system.
That’s right, this is one of two potential missions that NASA has narrowed down for their
final mission in their New Frontiers Program.
Today I’m going to tell you all about ONE of those two missions as I go head to head
against the publisher of Universe Today, Fraser Cain in a battle for the best potential mission.
After you’ve heard from both of us, you get to vote on which one you think should
win, which will almost certainly forever shape the history of space exploration.
Either that or NASA won’t care at all what we think... hmmm…
Well, anyway, here’s what Fraser has to say, this better be good...
I’m Fraser Cain, publisher of Universe Today and the host of the Guide to Space.
Tim’s going to convince you that NASA should choose a nuclear powered helicopter for Titan.
And while I think that’s an awesome idea, it’s my job to convince you that a comet
sample return makes more sense.
So, after you’ve heard Tim’s argument, come on over to my channel and I’ll make
the case for comet sample return.
Then vote.
*Laughs*
Wait, wait, so wait, you’re telling me you want to scoop up some boring old space dirt
and bring it home?!
You’ve got a real uphill battle on this one.
NUCLEAR. POWERED. FLYING. DRONE.
Vs space dirt….
Well, let’s get started!
In December of 2017 NASA narrowed down its potential upcoming planetary science missions
to just two.
The Comet Astrobiology Exploration Sample Return (CAESAR), a mission that would return
to Comet 67p, that exact same Comet that Rosetta and Phileae recently flew to.
It would then scoop up some comet dirt and bring it back to Earth.
The other option is Dragonfly.
A nuclear-powered quadcopter that would fly around in the thick atmosphere of Saturn’s
moon Titan, efficiently exploring more of this incredible world than any other interplanetary mission.
Unfortunately there’s only room for one mission.
Each team will continue to perfect their proposals until NASA makes their final decision mid 2019.
If all goes well, NASA would be able to launch the winning mission as early as 2024!
Before we get into the details of the Dragonfly Space Drone, let’s talk about its destination first.
Titan.
Titan is amazing.
Seriously, after researching for this video, I realized how incredible Titan is, and now
more than ever, I really really want to explore it.
Titan is the largest moon orbiting Saturn and the second largest moon in our solar system.
Titan is even larger than the planet Mercury.
This thing is huge.
In some ways Titan is the most Earth-like body in our solar system.
It’s actually kind of the most potentially habitable for us humans too, and there’s
a remote possibility it could be teaming with super unique alien life.
Maybe.
Titan has a thick atmosphere.
A really thick atmosphere.
It’s 1.45 times thicker than here on Earth, which means you could go outside without a
spacesuit.
But, there’s two reasons why you wouldn’t want to do that.
First you’d be better bring the warmest coat imaginable as it’s -180c or -292 F.
Brr.
Also, you’ll need to bring some oxygen since Titan’s atmosphere is almost entirely nitrogen
with some methane and some hydrogen.
And with its super thick atmosphere and low gravity close to our own moon's, you’d actually
be able to strap on some wings, flap your arms, and fly around Titan like a bird!
SIGN ME UP!
It'd probably be a lot better than this guy’s attempts here on Earth
And unlike other potentially habitable-ish planets like Mars or our own moon, Titan’s
thick atmosphere and Saturn’s massive magnetosphere could protect life from dangerous Galactic
Cosmic Rays and other dangerous radiation.
And despite its freezing cold temperatures, due to its thick atmosphere, we wouldn’t
require crazy big and vacuum sealed habitats.
Habitats could be more like a heated plastic tent which could be lightweight and maybe
even be manufactured using resources right there on Titan.
If we were to try and inhabit the moon or Mars permanently, we’d either need massively
shielded habitats or, live entirely underground to protect us long term.
That doesn’t sound too fun does it.
Ok so, so far Titan doesn't sound anything like Earth.
But here’s where things get interesting.
The craziest part of Titan is it has liquid oceans.
But instead of those oceans being liquid water, they’re actually liquid methane!
And this one is kind of hard for me to grasp, but let’s take water here on Earth as an
example first.
Earth is the right temperature to have liquid water.
If Earth was any warmer, like a lot warmer, all of that water would boil and evaporate
into a gas.
If Earth was a lot colder, all that water would freeze and become a solid, otherwise
known as ice.
And like ALL matter, methane exists in one of five states, but let’s just stick to
the three we’re most familiar with.
Liquids, solids and gases.
Due to Titan being so cold, methane exists as a liquid, which it does below −161 °C
(−257 °F) and above that temperature it’s a gas, like we may be more
familiar with here on Earth.
And although there isn’t liquid water on the surface of Titan, there is water trapped
below the crust of Titan.
This is exciting not only for the possibility of potential life as we know it down there,
but also as means of survival for potential human exploration.
Speaking of life… don’t forget, here on Earth, we’ve only ever observed life in
the presence of water.
All life on Earth requires the presence of liquid water to exist.
This is because water is the lubricant for the molecular process of all known life.
But, maybe in my overly optimistic outlook, there’s one keyword here that gets me excited.
KNOWN life.
Some scientists hypothesize that life could potentially exist using a molecule called
acrylonitrile that could act as a lubricant instead of water.
But really, we just simply don’t know until we observe otherwise.
But in my opinion, how absolutely incredible would it we be if we someday discover life
as we don’t know it.
Life that’s nothing like here on Earth.
Life that’s so different, it makes Hollywood’s depictions of alien life seem downright hilarious.
Ok, so Titan's a super crazy cool world.
So now let’s talk about exploring Titan.
Tell us about that DRONE TIM!!!!
Ok!
The drone would have a leash to walk Titan dogs like this.
Ok, well not at all.
But It’d look like this.
Dragonfly has 8 propellers in an X8 configuration.
This allows for multi motor-out capability, assuming you don’t lose both motors on the
same arm.
As we’ve mentioned, due to Titan’s thick atmosphere and low gravity, flying around
Titan would be super easy.
It’d be a very efficient and extremely safe way to explore.
With nothing to run into besides potential space pterodactyls, the drone could easily
cover 10s if not 100’s of kilometers within its 2 year planned lifespan.
That’s an insane amount of potential exploration!
A big change from previous land roving rovers.
The current record holder for furthest distance traveled on another body is NASA’s plucky
Mars Opportunity rover which has traveled 45 kms or 28 miles as of January 2018.
Its taken Opportunity over 14 years to travel that far though… so it’s not what I’d
call quick…
Before Opportunity the previous record holder was the USSR’s Lunokhod 2 moon rover which
traveled 39 kilometers or 24 miles in 1973 over its four month mission.
Lunokhod 2 broke the previous record held by two HUMANS!
That’s right, the Apollo 17 lunar rover piloted by Harrison Schmitt and Eugene Cernan
traveled pretty darn far, a respectable 35.7 kms or 22 miles on the surface of the moon
in less than 3 days.
That's pretty quick.
Another thing that’s cool about Dragonfly is it would be powered by a small nuclear
generator.
Specifically a radioisotope thermoelectric generator or RTG.
It’d actually be the exact same RTG that powers the awesome Curiosity Mars rover!
RTG’s convert the heat of decaying radioactive material, into electricity!
The excess heat would also be pumped back into the body of the drone to keep its electronics
at a comfortable room temperature, a win win.
The RTG recharges the onboard battery which actually powers the drone.
This allows the drone to fly around for the duration of the battery and then land and
recharge, even during Titan’s night which lasts 8 Earth days.
But maybe one of the most exciting things is Dragonfly can measure bulk element surface
composition with a neutron-activated gamma-ray spectrometer and monitor atmospheric and surface
conditions including diurnal and spatial variations with meteorology sensors?????!?!
What?
I have no idea.
It's cool stuff probably.
Good thing I’m not on the planning team because I’d probably just say “Put lasers
on it and make sure it can do some cool barrel rolls.”
Although the Dragonfly mission would be super exciting, it wouldn’t actually be the first
mission to the surface of Titan.
Nope!
On January 14th, 2005, the Huygens probe successfully touched down on the surface of Titan.
Although the Huygens spacecraft only lasted 90 minutes on the surface of Titan, it still
provided very useful data about the conditions, paving the way for further exploration.
Huygens launched along with the wonderful Cassini spacecraft which studied the Saturn
system for 14 years, just recently ending its incredibly fruitful mission just recently,
in September 2017.
Man, I’m so excited about a drone flying around Titan and potentially making some incredible
discoveries.
So what do you think?
Are you a fan of Titan and/or Dragonfly?
Do you want us to explore Titan further, if not, where do you want to explore next?
Let me know in your thoughts below!
And although he’s going to have a hard time convincing us why CAESAR is even remotely
worth considering, we do need to remember to head on over to Fraser Cain’s channel
to learn more about what NASA’s other option is…
While you’re at it, be sure and check out his entire channel.
As the publisher of Universe Today, Fraser’s content is bursting with amazingly well researched
topics, as a matter of fact, I watched his videos to learn more about Titan for today's
video.
So once you watch both of our videos, be sure and hit the link in the description to cast
your vote!
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I'm Tim Dodd, the Everyday Astronaut.
Bringing space down to Earth for everyday people.