NASA to Send Autonomous Submarine to Saturn for Exploration of Oceans
NASA has announced that it plans to send an autonomous submarine to explore Titan, a moon on Saturn, and its oceans. The submarine, which is still in its design phase, will come equipped with a variety of features to achieve its mission.
Titan is home to liquid methane and ethane oceans, and the 20-foot NASA submarine will send data back to earth through a range of sensors, radar and sonar equipment on it, as well as a “fin” for communication on its back to allow it to communicate directly with receivers back and forth. Cameras will also be in place to capture images of Titan.
Using a submarine to study the ocean has a number of pros, something that one of the researchers on the project recently pointed out.
“If you can get below the surface of the sea, and get all the way down to the bottom in certain areas, and actually touch the silt that's at the bottom, and sample it and learn what that's made of, it'll tell you so much about the environment that you're in,” said Michael Paul from Penn State University, in an article on Science Alert.
The submarine’s design is currently on hold for the time being, as NASA’s Cassini spacecraft explores Titan’s surface and seas. Any information obtained by Cassini will go toward the development of the submarine. The submarine design will be reassessed by March 2017. As of right now, NASA hopes to send the submarine to Saturn in 2038.
