Comments on: NASA’s Proposed Space-Faring Boat Would Cruise and Study Titan’s Oceans

By: Carline Bottolfson

Carline Bottolfson — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 06:31:39 +0000

I do agree with all of the ideas you’ve presented in your post. They are really convincing and will certainly work. Still, the posts are very short for beginners. Could you please extend them a little from next time? Thanks for the post.

By: SakeBitoSan

SakeBitoSan — Tue, 17 May 2011 03:23:57 +0000

This is an excellent idea – but let’s hope that this time they put cameras on it that have better resolution than a 1973 Instamatic with 110 film and bacon grease smeared across the lens (a vast disappointment with Huygens.)

They should also stick a robotic version of the Popeil’s Pocket Fisherman on the edge, drop in a daredevil and do a little trolling.

And nobody light a match… 8^D

Seriously, Titan is an exciting place, and it’s been a long time since NASA has done a mission that really grabbed people’s imaginations. There should be as much emphasis on relaying high-resolution video and stills of the whole excursion as there is on hard science. Imagine HD video of a hazy orange sunset reflected from a glassy, undulating methane/ ethane/ hydrocarbon lake. Given the longevity of even the solar-powered Mars rovers, with RTGs providing power there’s no reason why this craft shouldn’t be able to putter around that lake for years.

By: Muchsake

Muchsake — Mon, 16 May 2011 01:34:53 +0000

Please please please don’t name it after where its sailing.

By: Elizabeth Barrette

Elizabeth Barrette — Sun, 15 May 2011 17:49:56 +0000

We’ve landed probes on Mars. We’ve buzzed comets. It’s time to get a new t-shirt, folks, let’s go to Titan!

By: Keith

Keith — Fri, 13 May 2011 21:43:01 +0000

Who’s to say someone didn’t drop a plutonium boat in our lake ;-) ?

By: dave chamberlin

dave chamberlin — Thu, 12 May 2011 20:25:29 +0000

If the people that launch this have a little alien face peer into the onboard camera it will insure billions more in funding. Then when we don’t find the him-she-it thing again we’ll have to conclude it is really rare. Bigfoot never did shit for science, but a well made sock puppet could really get these cheap governments to open up their wallets.

By: steinmentz1

steinmentz1 — Wed, 11 May 2011 23:17:34 +0000

And Now on a serious note: Lakes of fuel for the taking, all we have to do is bring oxygen with us so we can burn it. Can you imagine automated fueling stations every million miles or so? Reminds me of an early Star Trek episode. A use for aerogel (strong, light and temperature resistant).

By: steinmentz1

steinmentz1 — Wed, 11 May 2011 23:02:36 +0000

See ‘ur’ doctor for information on digital probes of Uranus.
He uses the probe to find out what lies below the surface.
The probe is the size and shape of a human digit.
Har Har Yuck. No Peking University

By: Oli

Oli — Wed, 11 May 2011 21:42:32 +0000

This made my day. I can’t wait until this arrives at Titan. Now get orbiters to Uranus and Neptune (including a Triton rover) and probes (fly-bys or orbiters, I don’t mind either way) to Sedna and Eris. After that, I’d be able to die as a happy man.

By: Ton

Ton — Wed, 11 May 2011 21:10:15 +0000

Such a mission will get the public much more involved than a seismic mission to mars for example. It’s their money in fact.
When I think of the Galileo probe to Jupiter I remember that I found it such a shame that the atmospheric probe didn’t have an onboard camera…Such a missed opportunity.

By: Ben

Ben — Wed, 11 May 2011 18:41:18 +0000

k, so technically, extra in Latin means ‘outside of’ or ‘beyond’, not above. Above ground would be ‘super-terrestrial’. So if you had a hollow sphere of ground 2 feet thick, rain in the middle of the sphere would be extraterrestrial (outside the physical ground, inside the sphere, but definitely not above)

e.g. extrasensory is beyond/outside your senses, not above them

My Latin teacher would have smacked my hand if I didn’t get these straight.

semper ubi sub ubi !!

By: Deacon.James

Deacon.James — Wed, 11 May 2011 17:12:00 +0000

Randy: You made me laugh out loud.

By: Alan

Alan — Wed, 11 May 2011 17:04:37 +0000

The plutonium is to accelerate the mutation process and push evolution along – just our small contribution to evolution on Titan. :)

By: Randy

Randy — Wed, 11 May 2011 14:57:15 +0000

Hey look, an ocean! Let’s put some plutonium in it.

By: DrivethruScientist

DrivethruScientist — Wed, 11 May 2011 13:20:09 +0000

I think we all know what becoming a space-faring civilization means overall. But there will be good things to come out of it too. Like all things in humanity, there’s good and bad.

By: soahs

soahs — Wed, 11 May 2011 01:48:58 +0000

Has anyone thought of how humans are here on Earth? We have different racial features. And we can’t get along. After generations of life on different planets, humans will change. Different cultures, different features. Maybe interplanetary war.

By: Bill J Vincent

Bill J Vincent — Wed, 11 May 2011 01:35:57 +0000

Franklin, you made my day. Thank you.

By: Brian McInnis

Brian McInnis — Wed, 11 May 2011 01:32:26 +0000

Note to Patrick Morgan: ALL rain is extraterrestrial (above-ground, for those of you with shaky grasps on etymology); once it hits the ground, you just call it liquid.

By: CNR

CNR — Wed, 11 May 2011 01:28:26 +0000

Mars seismic probe? Really? Snoozefest.

Comet hopper? We’ve been to asteroids, why do this? Another snoozefest.

We need to explore these fun moons, Titan, Enceladus, etc…. Let’s be bold, not dull.

Explore the places where life might be.

There is much to learn so lets learn the good stuff now. We can fill in the boring stuff later!!

By: Franklin

Franklin — Wed, 11 May 2011 01:01:16 +0000

james, all of those worlds are ours except for Europa. We should attempt no landings there.

By: Brian Too

Brian Too — Tue, 10 May 2011 23:03:51 +0000

It looks a bit like the old ironclad The Monitor.

By: james

james — Tue, 10 May 2011 22:37:26 +0000

Titan, Iapetus, Eurpoa, Ceres… I say go to them all. What’s with the discrimination?

I’d be more interested in permanent satellites around the Moon and Venus though

By: Glen

Glen — Tue, 10 May 2011 21:42:21 +0000

Don’t do it Nasa! You’re just going to unleash Thanos onto the world!

By: Jim Bo

Jim Bo — Tue, 10 May 2011 21:06:58 +0000

This is great. We do really need to get into space and discover and develop new ideas and information. Where will this lead? Twenty five years from now most likely to where we know not but to not here but really it will be to here. As we spread out, each new step will decide future steps and if we continue to do this then within the next twenty five years we could be on to something of which we have no idea as of yet but that might become something like Columbus when he sailed the oceans blue. There comes a time when the tide is right and then we must take it. If we don’t, then perhaps others on earth will or maybe even, someone not here will. We must realize that those that don’t colonize sometimes simply become colonized.