XPost: sci.space.policy, sci.astro   
   From: christopher.m.jones@gmail.com   
      
   Steve Pope wrote:   
   > My understanding is Huygens was designed to survive such   
   > a landing and continue to function while floating in   
   > hydrocarbons.   
   >   
   > I could be mistaken however.   
      
   It was designed to have the maximum possible survival   
   rate in the event of a landing in liquid that the   
   designers could give it, within the design constraints.   
   However, this chance was not much.  A pool of liquid   
   hydrocarbons at near liquid Nitrogen temperatures makes   
   an awfully efficient coolant.  So much so that had   
   Huygens landed in liquid methane it would have ended   
   its operational life very quickly thereafter.   
      
   The crux of the issue is that Huygens' design is   
   fundamentally incompatable with long duration, or even   
   medium duration, surface science, let alone on Titan.   
   It needs not only greater longevity in general but   
   also different instruments and different overall design.   
   I think the inflatable wheeled rover / aerobot* is   
   probably the best design for this sort of thing available   
   at the moment.  It would use 3 separate Helium filled   
   balloons as wheels in a rover.  These would enable the   
   craft to operate as an aerobot during and after descent   
   (it could also take the place of parachutes), which would   
   permit it to perform extensive surveys of the atmosphere   
   and surface.  Later the balloons can be partially   
   deflated to approach or touch down on the surface, for   
   higher resolution imagery or surface science.  Finally,   
   while on the surface the Helium could be replaced with   
   ambient atmosphere, transforming the vehicle to an   
   amphibious rover.  It looks to be an enormously capable   
   design, with quite a lot of potential.   
      
      
   (*) http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/outerplanets2001/pdf/4023.pdf   
      
   http://www2.jpl.nasa.gov/adv_tech/rovers/summary.htm   
      
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