Mission Titan: Saturn Approach by wblack
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Description
Mission Titan: Saturn Approach
This is a Mars Terraforming Program image -- an ongoing series; see Mars colony terraforming program image series links below.
An advanced interplanetary Orion crewed vehicle approaches Saturn orbital capture. The crew will be preparing to retract and lock down the gimbaled-arm habitats as spin is taken off the ship prior to orbital insertion burn and maneuvers to match orbits with Titan. Once on orbit over Titan the crew will descend to the surface and spend the next year setting up and operating a methane/hydrocarbon recovery operation.
Building the Martian Atmosphere
For 200 years orbiting mirrors have bathed the Martian poles, raising surface temperature, melting the ice caps, releasing water vapor and carbon dioxide. The Martian colonists have sustained ammonia importation from Callisto – ammonia (NH3) is a powerful greenhouse gas -- and constructed diffusion plants, releasing fluorine-containing minerals (mined locally)as a source of CFCs and PFCs –which serve to thicken the atmosphere.
The next stage is Mission Titan: importation of methane, nitrogen, and other hydrocarbons, which are common in Titan's atmosphere and on its surface. Nitrogen makes up 78% of Earth’s atmosphere, it is an essential requirement for building a human-breathable atmosphere, and its scarcity on Mars presents a serious problem, importation is one solution. The recovered atmospheric methane and nitrogen will be transported back to Mars where it will be vented into the atmosphere to compound the greenhouse effect.
Methane also can be helpful to produce a quick increase for the insufficient Martian atmospheric pressure. These gases also can be used for production (at the next step of terraforming of Mars) of water and CO2 for Martian atmosphere, by reaction:
CH4 + 4 Fe2O3 => CO2 + 2 H2O + 8 FeO
All models are my own. Models constructed in Bryce 6.5 and rendered in Bryce 7 Pro.
Background photo credit: Cassini’s Saturn NASA/JPL.
As always thank you for your interest, thoughtful comments, and encouragement.
Comments (22)
wblack
Mars Colony Terraforming Program Image Links: Mars Colony: The Expanding Frontier Discarding Stages Discarding Stages: A New Perspective Prospecting Callisto Callisto Production Field Flight Control Station Command & Control Deck Crew Quarters Mars Colony Heavy Lift Nuclear SSTO Mars Colony Nuclear SSTO Launch Mars Colony Nuclear SSTO Approach to Touchdown Nuclear SSTO Orbital Operations Nuclear SSTO Diagram Mars Terraforming Program Orion Launch Site Callisto Orbital Loading Operation Dusk Orbit: Mission Support Transporter Unloading Mars Terraforming Program Vehicle Class Chart Mars Terraforming: The Growth of Industry Orion Impulse Launcher Assembly Outward Bound Mars Terraforming Program Mission Cycle Chart I Orbital Ring Orbital Ring – Alternative Perspective
MagikUnicorn Online Now!
GORGEOUS!
geirla
Great looking image!
9002434
Impressive construction and interesting texte (have you read SPIN of Robert Charles Wilson?). Bravo for the picture.
RodS
This is most astonishing! Excellent work!
peedy
Fantastic image and modeling. Beautiful lighting. Corrie
Sylverdali
amazing
odile
Excellent scene!Bravo!
flavia49
superlative!! Happy Holidays!
texboy
woo! a fine image and craft.... Merry Christmas, bud!
shayhurs
Excellent work as always!
slippery46
This is 1 of the best renders of 2k11 4me great work AAAA+
dcmstarships
that is one spectacular image!
Kinchie
Bravissimo!
fallen21
Excellent scene, well done.
FloydianSlip
Wow!! This is really outstanding work. That model is amazing. The detail is incredible and the render is perfect. ;) Have a Happy New Year.
1358
notice that his ship has something that a number of your other ones don't have... weathering... nice touch!
maudawg
...'bout as perfect as I think anyone could do...it's the shadowing that really gets me...
Hlynkacg
As far as lighting and composition is concerned I think this is your best work since "Syria Planum Landing" and my favorite in the series overall. But as always the engineer in me wants to quibble about design. Based on the "Aerobraking" image I assume that the black dome on the "bow" of the crew vehicle is a heat-sheild for braking/entry correct? If so it would seem to me that crew's experiance of "down" would shift atleast three times over the course of the mission and twice in rapid succession just before landing. (as the vessel flips end over end to orient from braking to landing) I'm just curious about how you envision handling the layout and ergonomic issues of having walls become ceilings and then become floors, or are the relative accelerations and thier duration low enough that it wouldn't be more than a minor inconvienience?
wblack
Hi Greg, I normally illustrate these details in the vehicle diagram, which is still in the works -- but your question is valid. You are correct, the dome on the bow of the craft is a heat-shield – however it is only for atmospheric entry of the crew-landing vehicle/surface habitat – and only sees application in descent to Titan’s surface. Braking for Saturn orbital capture does not involve aerobraking -- it is entirely powered: i.e. the Orion fission initiated pulsed plasma rocket is the primary boost-phase/target capture, and maneuvering (orbital insertion/transfer) engine. Within the gimbaled-arm habitat(s) the direction of “down” is the same under boost or spin -- unless of course the vehicle is in neither state (that state then being zero-g of course). The gimbaled-arm habitats would of course be in a retracted position and locked down during all primary engine burns. To expand on detail not evident in the image: During primary engine burn I envision the crew riding near the core of the cylindrical segment – which is positioned atop the fuel stack and above the gimbaled-arm habitats and below the support-frame/docking structure on which the crew-landing vehicle is positioned. The value of the gimbaled-arm habitat is weight savings. The structure is lighter over-all than a spoke-and-wheel habitat. In this case the entire vehicle spins on its long access – and the extension of the gimbaled-arms allows for a lower spin rate than the lesser circumference (if, for example, the maximum force were experienced at the surface of the main-body vehicle diameter) would require. The crew-landing vehicle/surface habitat would use the Super Nexus, Liberty Ship method of nose-first atmospheric-entry – something common in Convair designs -- and something which seems counter-intuitive to those of us who grew up with the Apollo capsule tail-first entry model. (The STS is its own special case being aerodynamic and doesn't factor into this discussion.) Aerobraking during primary atmospheric entry would require the deceleration forces be experienced in the recommended front-to-back direction. There is one (1) 180 degree roll involved from atmospheric braking to roll-over for terminal landing maneuvers and touch-down. Titan surface gravity is 1.352 m/s^2 (0.14 g). I believe strapped into a conforming couch our crew could handle the forces of terminal powered deceleration, and touch-down forces, in a off-vertical reclining seated position. So the crew-couches would only need be mounted to rotate through something over 90 degrees but less than 180 degrees. Perhaps I'll model it to illustrate.
thecytron
Fantastic image!
dbrv6
Very well done