Titan SURF
From DGC
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This page contains information regarding the 2008 Titan SURF project.
Project Overview
Saturn's moon Titan has been revealed by the Cassini-Huygens mission as an exotic world, unlike any other, but with some uncanny similarities to the Earth. The Cassini orbiter radar penetrating the ubiquitous Titan haze layer, has revealed vast expanses of equatorial sand dunes and high latitude seas believed to contain liquid methane and ethane. The Huygens probe plunging below the haze in one place on Titan obtained viewed of a complex valley drainage network believed to be carved by flash floods of liquid hydrocarbons.
Because of its extraordinary interest, NASA has recently announced its intention of going back to Titan in collaboration with the European and Japanese Space agencies. One mode of exploration that appears uniquely suited to Titan is a lighter-than-air vehicle that could operate for years in Titan’s cold dense atmosphere and descend repeatedly to the surface for close up observations and sampling. A hot air (Montgolfiere) balloon utilizing the waste heat of the vehicle’s radioisotopic electric power might provide this capabilitiy. A Caltech/JPL demonstration project for the summer of 2009 is currently being formulated. This summer, a set of SURF projects on various scientific, technology and mission design topics are being offered to lay the essential groundwork for the summer 2009 project.
Additional information:
- Titan Virtual Tour located on the Cassini Huygens mission homepage
- Autonomous Aerobots for Exploration of Venus and Titan
- JPL-Caltech Titan Meeting Page
Individual SURF Projects
The table below lists the individual projects that are part of the 2008 Titan SURF project. Each project contains a short description of the research opportunities, along with a summary of the prerequisites needed to pursue the project. Contact information for mentors and co-mentors is also provided.
| Title | Mentor(s) |
| Titan Mission Design | C. Peterson, J. Marsden, M. Ortiz |
| Computational Fluid and Thermal Analysis of a Titan Montgolfiere | T. Colonius, J. Hall |
| Titan Wind Analysis using LCS | J. Marsden, C. Newman |
| Localization, Navigation and Control | J. Burdick, A. Elfes |
| Simulation Environments and Visualization | A. Elfes, M. Powell |
| Opportunistic Planning | A. Elfes, J. Marsden |
| Path Prediction for an Earth-based Demonstration Balloon Flight | M. Richardson, J. Marsden, C. Newman, |
| Surface Sampling | J. Burdick |
| Balloon Deployment | S. Pelligrino, J. Hall, M. Ortiz |
| Propulsion System | B. McKeon, J. Dabiri |
| Adaptive Modeling and Learning of Wind Fields | A. Elfes, C. Newman |
Information on Applying
We anticipate that up to 10 students will be selected for pursuing Titan SURF projects this summer. Partial funding is available for both Caltech and non-Caltech students whose proposals are selected.
Students who are interested in apply for a Titan SURF project should contact the mentors listed in the project summaries to determine if the project is a good match for their interests. Individual mentors will determine whether they work with a student to write up a proposal. All proposals must be submitted according to the usual SURF office procedures.
