Science goals and objectives for the Dragonfly Titan rotorcraft relocatable lander

JW Barnes, EP Turtle, MG Trainer… - The Planetary …, 2021 - iopscience.iop.org
NASA's Dragonfly mission will send a rotorcraft lander to the surface of Titan in the mid-
2030s. Dragonfly's science themes include investigation of Titan's prebiotic chemistry …

Reconstructing river flows remotely on Earth, Titan, and Mars

SPD Birch, G Parker, P Corlies… - Proceedings of the …, 2023 - National Acad Sciences
Alluvial rivers are conveyor belts of fluid and sediment that provide a record of upstream
climate and erosion on Earth, Titan, and Mars. However, many of Earth's rivers remain …

Moisture transport and the methane cycle of Titan's lower atmosphere

JM Lora - Icarus, 2024 - Elsevier
Titan's surface and lower atmosphere support a hydrologic cycle that influences various
aspects of the icy moon's appearance and evolution. Here, we review the state of knowledge …

Capillary processes in extraterrestrial contexts

D Cordier, G Liger‐Belair… - Journal of …, 2024 - Wiley Online Library
The Earth is no longer the only known celestial body containing one or more liquid phases.
The Cassini spacecraft has discovered seas of hydrocarbons at the surface of Titan, while a …

Terminator habitability: the case for limited water availability on M-dwarf planets

AH Lobo, AL Shields, IZ Palubski… - The Astrophysical …, 2023 - iopscience.iop.org
Rocky planets orbiting M-dwarf stars are among the most promising and abundant
astronomical targets for detecting habitable climates. Planets in the M-dwarf habitable zone …

Warm early Mars surface enabled by high-altitude water ice clouds

ES Kite, LJ Steele, MA Mischna… - Proceedings of the …, 2021 - National Acad Sciences
Despite receiving just 30% of the Earth's present-day insolation, Mars had water lakes and
rivers early in the planet's history, due to an unknown warming mechanism. A possible …

Titan: Earth-like on the outside, ocean world on the inside

SM MacKenzie, SPD Birch, S Hörst… - The Planetary …, 2021 - iopscience.iop.org
Abstract Thanks to the Cassini–Huygens mission, Titan, the pale orange dot of Pioneer and
Voyager encounters, has been revealed to be a dynamic, hydrologically shaped, organic …

Influence of observed seasonally varying composition on Titan's stratospheric circulation

NA Lombardo, JM Lora - Icarus, 2023 - Elsevier
Titan's atmosphere exhibits variations in composition as it progresses through its seasons.
Past observations have shown a substantial enrichment in short-lived molecules in the …

The emergence of relaxation-oscillator convection on Earth and Titan

FE Spaulding-Astudillo, JL Mitchell - arXiv preprint arXiv:2306.03219, 2023 - arxiv.org
In relaxation-oscillator (RO) climate states, short-lived convective storms with torrential
rainfall form and dissipate at regular, periodic intervals. RO states have been demonstrated …

Titan's prevailing circulation might drive highly intermittent, yet significant sediment transport

F Comola, JF Kok, JM Lora, K Cohanim… - Geophysical …, 2022 - Wiley Online Library
Titan, the largest moon of Saturn, is characterized by gigantic linear dunes and an active
dust cycle. Much like on Earth, these aeolian processes are caused by the wind‐driven …