NASA plans to send submarine to Saturn’s moon Titan

NASA is planning to develop a submarine and send it all the way to Saturn’s moon Titan to explore its mysterious ocean.

The US space agency wants to organize a possible mission to Titan’s largest sea, Kracken Mare, Discovery News reported on Thursday.

Titan is the only known body in the solar system to have a considerable atmosphere which has its own methane cycle, similar to Earth’s water cycle. Methane exists in a liquid form, raining down on a landscape laced with hydrocarbons, forming rivers, valleys and seas.

The underwater explorer, or the autonomous submersible, would be designed to travel 2,000 kilometer (1,250 mile) on a ninety-day voyage to investigate the depths of the alien marine atmosphere.

“This craft will autonomously carry out detailed scientific investigations under the surface of Kraken Mare, providing unprecedented knowledge of an extraterrestrial sea and expanding NASA’s existing capabilities in planetary exploration to include in situ nautical operations,” NASA said in a statement.

“Sprawling over some 1,000 kilometers, with depths estimated at 300 meters, Kraken Mare is comparable in size to the Great Lakes and represents an opportunity for an unprecedented planetary exploration mission,” it added.

The robotic submersible would be powered by a radio-isotope generator, which is a source that converts the heat produced by radioactive pellets into electricity.

Communicating with Earth wouldn't be possible when the vehicle is underwater, so it would need to make regular ascents to the surface to transmit data.

Ten years ago, the European Huygens probe (pictured above) descended through Titan's atmosphere and became the first ever robotic mission to touch down on a world in the outer solar system.

GJH/GJH

Press TV’s website can also be accessed at the following alternate addresses:

www.presstv.co.uk