NASA Plans Winged Aerobot to Explore Titan
Posted on July 9, 2016
Global Aerospace Corporation (GAC) has announced it is developed an atmospheric rover to explore Saturn's moon Titan. GAC is developing the Titan Winged Aerobot (TWA) with Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems. A TWA prototype will be developed for Earth-based testing.
The aerobot is inspired by Northrop Grumman's Titan Lifting-Entry Atmospheric Flight (T-LEAF) platform. It incorporates features such as ultra-low power requirements and extended vertical range. It is described as a hybrid entry vehicle, balloon, and maneuverable glider with 3-D directional control. GAC says the TWA could operate on minimal power while roving the atmosphere of Titan.
Dr. Benjamin Goldman, principal investigator of the Phase I SBIR effort, says in a statement, "Titan is a cold, harsh environment that poses many technical challenges for any lighter-than-air exploration platform, but TWA has the potential to overcome these challenges with simple yet innovative engineering approaches to pressure management, lift generation, and maneuverability."
Titan has a rich atmospheric chemistry and vast oceans of methane. Some scientists have speculated the moon could support unique non-water based life that survive in methane.
