Titan

[Seggybop]

Titan, the only moon in the Sol System with an atmosphere.



I have heard many interesting things about it. Some people say that it's entirely covered with various types of hydrocarbons, including gasoline rain. Perhaps the energy industry would be interested in that? Some people also say that since the atmosphere is so thick, conditions at the surface could be acceptable for life. Or if not at the surface, in a hydrocarbon ocean. What interesting information about this place do you have?

[kojikun]

it would be cheaper to manufacture gasoline from carbon dioxide and water then to mine it from Titan. However, the hydrocarbons themselves are, I believe, methane. anything denser is going to condense and form the ocean. but thats besides the point, because it would be too expensive to mine it.

[GrandMasterTerwynn]

Titan, the only moon in the Sol System with an atmosphere.

http://zebu.uoregon.edu/~soper/ImSaturn/titan1.gif

I have heard many interesting things about it. Some people say that it's entirely covered with various types of hydrocarbons, including gasoline rain. Perhaps the energy industry would be interested in that? Some people also say that since the atmosphere is so thick, conditions at the surface could be acceptable for life. Or if not at the surface, in a hydrocarbon ocean. What interesting information about this place do you have?

A) Minor, minor nitpick: Titan is the only moon in the system with at substantial atmosphere.

B) Getting all the way over to Titan just to pump some hydrocarbons seems to be a really, really wasteful way of going about things.

C) The atmospheric pressure on Titan's surface is 1.8 atmospheres. However, the temperature is -250 degrees Farenheit. The people who claim surface conditions on Titan would be ideal for life are smoking some really good crack.

[kojikun]

terwynn: no shit with the temperatures. methane is a liquid on Titan! thats bloody cold.

[CaptainChewbacca]

Howdy from Spain! I know enough about this subject that I had to break in.

1. Surface temperature of Titan is about 190 kelvan. That´s about 80 degrees BELOW freezing on the celsius scale.

2. The atmosphere is primarily nitrogen, ethane, methan, and assorted hydrocarbon goodies like propane. Flammable? Nope, because there´s no free oxygen.

3. Any water present would likely be in ice form, unless you can find a deep impact crater with a lot of ice, then you could get liquid water.

4. There´s weather, too. It rains gasoline over there.

5. The surface pressure is about 1.7 atmospheres, but that is spread out over a much greater height. Gravity on Titan is only .18 earth gravities.

6. There´s probably no life, due to temperature constraints, but there could be.

[HemlockGrey]

Wait? Gasoline rain? Oil!

Liberate the Titans! Stop the inevitable Titanese invasion! Titan must disarm!

[SyntaxVorlon]

The Olympian gods have too long kept their progenitors in bondage, now we must act to free them.

[StarshipTitanic]

Wait? Gasoline rain? Oil!

Liberate the Titans! Stop the inevitable Titanese invasion! Titan must disarm!

No no, it'd be a "Titanic" invasion.

If we had the tech to "mine" gasoline on Titan, I don't think we'd be using gas anymore.

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

Sounds like it would be a good place to top off the tank, prior to heading out extrasolar ways. "Next gas station 4 light years"

Gas mining, for asteroid habitats?
Air, and organics for the Belters?

[MKSheppard]

Howdy from Stork Fucker's Ass! I know enough about this subject that I had to break in.

1. Surface temperature of Fucker's ass is about 190 kelvan. That´s about 80 degrees BELOW freezing on the celsius scale.

2. The atmosphere inside it is primarily nitrogen, ethane, methan, and assorted hydrocarbon goodies like propane. Flammable? Yes, Because
of all the beans that he eats.

3. Any water present would likely be in ice form, unless you can find a deep impact crater with a lot of ice, then you could get liquid water.

4. There´s weather, too. It farts gasoline from there, too.

Fuck off TK donkey felcher

*whips out Railgun and aims*

<(BZAPP!!!)>

{SPLAT!!}

*Shep laughs with glee as the Depleted-Uranium Rail Slug hits flesh at Mach 8. The massive hydroshock, the flash-vaporization, the violent stripping of flesh from bone, bone immediately shattering into tiny razor-sharp shards and getting propelled throughout his body at half the slug's speed instantly severs Chookie's body at the waist and flays it into a rapidly-expanding cloud of chunky gibs, jagged ribbons of cooked meat, and crimson salsa...*



IMPRESSIVE!!

[kojikun]

Sounds like it would be a good place to top off the tank, prior to heading out extrasolar ways. "Next gas station 4 light years"

Gas mining, for asteroid habitats?
Air, and organics for the Belters?

Not really. Considering the technology we'll have when we get out that far, we won't be using hydrocarbons for anything at all. By the time we have space mining, Belt and Jupiter-Lagrange habitats, etc we'll be using fusion rockets, which means jupiter itself will be where we get our fuel from not Titan.

[Xenophobe3691]

Not really. Considering the technology we'll have when we get out that far, we won't be using hydrocarbons for anything at all. By the time we have space mining, Belt and Jupiter-Lagrange habitats, etc we'll be using fusion rockets, which means jupiter itself will be where we get our fuel from not Titan.

Titan is Saturn's moon.

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

So, we won't be needing oxygen, water, and other hydrocarbon compounds in the future? We won't chemicaly convert hydrocarbons into edibles, or plastics?
We won't use reaction mass in our docking thrusters?
Come on man, think a little bigger.
You can't think of any uses for a large supply of readily usable light elements, in gaseous form?

Asteriods will be great for the metal to make habitats out of, but getting the air to fill them in comes harder.
Take an asteriod, drill a shaft to the center, and fill the center with water. Seal the shaft. Unfurl a HUGE mirror, of ultrathin, mylar type stuff. Focus on asteroid, and spin asteroid slowly. The rock melts, from outside, to in. When the heat gets to, and starts boiling the water. The rock, now molten on the outside, expands, like blowing glass. Furl mirror, and let rock cool.
You now have a hollow spheriod, ready to convert to a base.

Where to get the water, and air for filling this thing?

Titan!
Got an outbound probe, or colony ship?
Don't fill up the reaction mass tank, until you are ready to leave. Saturn is there for a good slingshot boost.

By the time we CAN get there, we will have a use for what IS there.

[kojikun]

Titan is Saturn's moon.

Even still. Titan will be utterly useless.

Chrostas: Titan doesn't necessarilly have water, and melting down an asteroid isnt a nice idea. Number one, the metal isnt made to industrial qualitie, and number two its going to require a mirror REALLY FUCKING HUGE to do it.

[Darth Gojira]

Wait? Gasoline rain? Oil!

Liberate the Titans! Stop the inevitable Titanese invasion! Titan must disarm!

Send in a U.N. search team to seek out weapons of mass destruction !

[EmperorChrostas the Cruel]

Where there are hyrocarbons, there is water. You just have to make it. I manufacture water, breaking down hydrocarbons, and adding oxygen. Bacteria do it better. Some don't need oxygen in free form, to do it.

Hydrocarbons= Hs, Os, and Cs, and lots of them.

The asteroid will be fine for making a habitat. It may not be industrial grade metal, but when the wall is 10 meters thick, it has the structural strenth to hold in air, especialy if you coat the inside with plastic sealant.
This is zero G here, and the strucure only has to withstand the forces you apply to it.

This method is proposed to use rocks larger than 100 meters to start with.
The whole idea is to have a large area to presurise, for living quarters, for belt miners, and construction workers.
There doesn't even need to be ANY iron or nickel in the asteriod, as metamorphic stone is plenty strong enough.
PUMMICE is strong enough for what is being proposed. Are you tring to say a random asteroid will be weaker stone than pummice?
A nickel iron asteroid, even if only SLAG quality, will be strong enough for my intended use.
We are NOT talking about spinning the damn thing, for artificial gravity. I doubt it would be strong enough for that.
Resist 30 PSI, (twice what it will face) that's all I ask of my rock.

My bottom line, is that all those wonderful lighter elements, and gas will be quite useful, WHEN we are able to get to them.
Self sustaining lunar and Martian colonies will be a prerequisite.
Belt mining will be established first, as well.
I don't think you are seeing how FAR down the road I am talking about. Like the year 3000.
Eventualy, we will get there, and pillage the planet! (I like the sound of that! Pillage! Pillage!)