Titan Target
One major target for exploration in the solar system has always been Saturn’s moon Titan. With its thick atmosphere, liquid ethane lakes, and subterranean water ocean, Titan really seems like a good place to find life. In 2005, NASA and ESA landed the Huygens probe on the edge of what seemed to be a dry lakebed on the moon but more detailed exploration remains high on the to-do list.
The ambitious Titan Saturn System Mission (TSSM) would have been a joint NASA/ESA mission to send a spacecraft to orbit the enigmatic moon. In addition, it would have dropped a large balloon to drift through Titan’s atmosphere, taking important wind and weather data, and floated a boat-like lander on a lake to get a better understanding of the liquid forces shaping Titan’s surface.
The mission remains on the drawing board, though one component of it may still see the light of day. The Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) would be a simpler undertaking, simply sending the boat-like probe to explore Ligeia Mare, one of Titan’s largest lakes. TiME is currently under investigation, competing with two other possible missions, including the Comet Hopper, for a 2016 launch slot.
Images: 1) Titan Saturn System Mission. NASA/European Space Agency. 2) TiME. NASA