A team of scientists led by Ellen Stofan, from Proxemy Research (Washington, USA), is ready to propose to NASA a mission to explore Lake Ligeia Mare and Lake Kraken Mare of northern Titan , one of the moons. of Saturn, by boat. If the mission succeeds, they will be the first lakes to be explored outside of Earth.
The planned goal is to launch the new mission, dubbed the Titan Mare Explorer (TiME) , in January 2016. The probe would arrive at Titan in June 2023. The boat would incorporate a mass spectrometer, cameras and meteorological instruments. Its main purpose would be to analyze the waters of the lakes to know their chemical composition. In addition, a sonar would allow to study the depths and the contour of the bottom. The cost of the project would be around 425 million dollars, quite low compared to other space missions.
Titan resembles Earth in that there appears to be a fluid circulation cycle between the ground, large bodies of water, and the atmosphere. The difference is that in Titan the liquid is not water (hydrological cycle) but methane , although it probably behaves in the same way.
