The Decadal Survey identified Titan as one of the top priority science destinations in the large moons category, while NASA’s proposed Design Reference Mission Set ranked a Titan in‐situ explorer second, after a recommended Europa Geophysical Explorer mission. This paper discusses a Titan rover concept, enabled by a single advanced Radioisotope Power System that could provide about 110 We (BOL). The concept targets the smaller Flagship or potentially the New Frontiers mission class. This MSL class rover would traverse on four 1.5 m diameter inflatable wheels during its 3 years mission duration and would use as much design and flight heritage as possible to reduce mission cost. Direct to Earth communication would remove the need for a relay orbiter. Details on the strawman instrument payload, and rover subsystems are given for this science driven mission concept. In addition, power system trades between Advanced RTG, TPV, and Advanced‐Stirling and Brayton RPSs are outlined. While many possible approaches exist for Titan in‐situ exploration, the Titan rover concept presented here could provide a scientifically interesting and programmatically affordable solution.


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    Title :

    Advanced Radioisotope Power System Enabled Titan Rover Concept with Inflatable Wheels



    Conference:

    SPACE TECH.& APPLIC.INT.FORUM-STAIF 2006: 10th Conf Thermophys Applic Microgravity; 23rd Symp Space Nucl Pwr & Propulsion; 4th Conf Human/Robotic Tech & Nat'l Vision for Space Explor.; 4th Symp Space Coloniz.; 3rd Symp on New Frontiers & Future Concepts ; 2006 ; Albuquerque, New Mexico (USA)


    Published in:

    AIP Conference Proceedings ; 813 , 1 ; 364-375


    Publication date :

    2006-01-20


    Size :

    12 pages





    Type of media :

    Conference paper


    Type of material :

    Electronic Resource


    Language :

    English



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