SLS could launch a Titan balloon mission | Boeing engineers proposed a design akin to a “traditional blimp” filled with helium and two ballast tanks, equipped with RADAR/LIDAR systems and atmospheric sensors. The team expects such a balloon to last in Titan’s atmosphere for years.
https://phys.org/news/2025-01-space-titan-balloon-mission.html
9 Comments
When is there going to be an SLS free to do that? Their activity is scheduled for the next 15 – 20 years.
The Boeing engineers offered two different altitude configurations: ***a 150 m******^(3)*** ***balloon for a 5km altitude or a 400 m******^(3)*** ***balloon for a 20km altitude orbit. When compressed, both balloon sizes can fit into an SLS payload fairing.***
The gondola is where the real magic happens….RADAR and LIDAR systems to scan the surface of Titan and, in particular, keep track of any changes from geological activity. There could also be **atmospheric sensors that could detect whether there were any organic molecules in the area that would give an indication of what kind of liquid methane cycle there is, if any.**
The mission was designed for a launch in the 2034–2036 time frame, with several different windows of opportunity during those years that would take advantage of a lower delta-v requirement to get to the Saturnian system. However, the SLS has had its own difficulties that could delay that timeline.
“Boeing engineers proposed a design…” okay I’ve seen enough
Very interesting concept for a probe, I would love to see it happen.
Wow a new project for Boeing to inflate figuratively and materially to new eights! Cool
Missions like these will probably kill off the supposed alien life on Titan due to contamination if it wasn’t already wiped out by Huygens.
I would absolutely LOVE to see that happen, but seeing Boeing’s name and SLS attached to it gives me little hope…
Acronyms, initialisms, abbreviations, contractions, and other phrases which expand to something larger, that I’ve seen in this thread:
|Fewer Letters|More Letters|
|——-|———|—|
|[LEO](/r/Space/comments/1ihnp4o/stub/maz5foo “Last usage”)|Low Earth Orbit (180-2000km)|
| |Law Enforcement Officer (most often mentioned during transport operations)|
|[LIDAR](/r/Space/comments/1ihnp4o/stub/mayn3ar “Last usage”)|[Light Detection and Ranging](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lidar)|
|[SLS](/r/Space/comments/1ihnp4o/stub/maz5foo “Last usage”)|Space Launch System heavy-lift|
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I’d love to see a Venus airship, not that Titan isn’t a dope destination, but we already have a nuclear powered flying rover headed there.