NASA plans to build the RTG-powered drone, what will operate inside Titan-moon atmosphere

NASA plans to build the RTG-powered drone, what will operate inside Titan-moon atmosphere

Titan moon is a very extraordinary moon in our solar system because it's the thick atmosphere and weak gravity, which makes it really interesting because it should not have that atmosphere. And that would make that moon a very good target for nuclear-powered quadcopter, what can operate in its atmosphere even years.

The thing is that the normal quadcopter can handle that mission, but the problem is the huge distance. That makes impossible to control that drone directly from the Earth. The system that uses artificial intelligence must have very powerful computers, and this makes that kind of mission very difficult to accomplish. The system should have the capacity for independent and autonomous operations.

In some scenarios even more sophisticated and effective systems would follow this Titan probe. Those systems would base the technology, which is created to HAVOC (High Altitude Venus Operational Concept) -program. In this version, the high- altitude airship communicates with the drones, what are flying near the surface of Titan or Venus. The system can use "green energy" and in some scenarios, the system would transmit the electricity to the drone swarm by using maser-transmitters. 

https://sacd.larc.nasa.gov/smab/havoc/

This kind of systems is really difficult to create because there is no time and room for mistakes. And this makes the creation of this kind of systems and especially required computer programs really complicated. In some scenarios, this kind of systems has central component, what would operate as the central processing unit, and the other drones, what is simpler and smaller.

The idea is that those sub-drones can dive in the oceans of Titan and observe the world, what is totally different than our own. In fact in the future to the other planets would send the drone swarms, where simpler drones would create the data network by using modems. The swarm of small quadcopters can cover larger areas than single drones, and the swarm can lose a single drone, and it can still continue the mission.

And in this case, other parts of nuclear-powered drones can wait in high-altitude, and that high-altitude swarm can send the replacement units to the swarm, what operates in low altitude for replacing the destroyed parts of the swarm. Those drones could be similar quadcopters, what is tested in the military areas. They can operate by using small size plutonium-batteries, and they can operate in the atmosphere of other planets a very long time.

https://gizmodo.com/nasa-is-officially-sending-an-aerial-drone-to-titan-and-1835918159

A couple of things about electric powered aircraft

A couple of things about electric powered aircraft


In the next text, I will handle green technology. That means there are not things like nuclear power, but if the producer of the electric powered aircraft would have permission, that means that the electric powered aircraft can fly even years. If those small size aircraft would equip with the RTG (Radio Thermal Generator) that makes the ability for that aircraft to fly even the yeas. And the thin, why I have mentioned this at the beginning of this text, is that similar bodies, what are used in the electric powered VTOL (Vertical Take-off and Land) - aircraft, can be used in the probes, what are send to other planets.

Maybe in tomorrow, that kind of VTOL probe would research the surface of the planet Venus and that kind of probe can land in the interesting places, where it can take samples from the surface of the planet. And of course, those systems might operate in the surface and atmosphere of the Saturn's moon Titan in some day at the future. That system might have sophisticated artificial intelligence, which allows it to operate independently. It might have laser-spectrometers and another kind of sensors to search for the place, where could be something interesting, and then the probe can land to that place, and take the samples to observe by microscope in its automatic laboratory. But this is the vision of the distant future.

The limit in the electric powered aircraft is the battery, which has a short time capacity, and that is the biggest problem with those aircraft. The limit of the chemical battery is giving those aircraft very short operating time, and this is the problem with them. Solar panels are used to extend the lifetime of the battery and on sunny days that lightweight silicone panels would give extended operating time for the electric power aircraft, but the flight time of those vehicles would be almost every case under an hour.

The use of fuel cells would give those aircraft more flight time, and if we are thinking the "green fuel" the hydrogen would be suitable for that mission. But the problem is "how to get hydrogen?". The production process of that gas is simple, only the electrolysis system must be installed in the production plant, and that is actually the tank, where are two electrodes.

The sea water has one problem, there is also sodium and chlorine, but the separation of the hydrogen would be made by using the abstraction, where the isolation of hydrogen is done by decrease the temperature of the mixture to the temperature, where the only hydrogen is in the gas form.  The use of hydrogen would give a clean energy source for the aircraft, and in fact, the hydrogen can also be used in the conventional jet engines. If we are thinking the use of hydrogen as the fuel of jet fighters, that thing can give the extreme flight support capacity for the aircraft carriers, because they can produce the hydrogen from water by using electrolysis.

Of course, there are the test planes where is extremely long wings, and those solar-powered aircraft are actually hybrid versions of gliders, where the electric system is taking energy from the solar panels and windmills, what are extending the flight time, and the thing, what makes electric power fascinating is that those aircraft would not need oxygen, and that's why they can fly in extremely high altitude, and the record of those devices is over 30 kilometers.

The thing, what makes those unmanned vehicles very attractive in the eyes of the military and law enforcement and natural resource authorities is that they can patrol the certain route even months if they get enough energy for their systems, and that makes them very good vehicles for border patrol. But those electric powered high altitude platforms can follow the situation in the battlefield, and they can show targets to tactical attack aircraft.

If those vehicles are made by using STEALTH material, they are very hard to shoot down. And they can be the modern versions of the observation balloon of the artillery. But when we are thinking about the electric powered aircraft, those vehicles can equip with the systems, which allows them to create their electric power by themselves. The expanding long tube would just put on the top of the aircraft, and it would suck the air through the turbine wheel, and the induction motor can be used as the generator.

Also, that that tube, what conducts the air to turbogenerator can connect to the balloon or airship, and it can increase the airflow, which makes the recharging the batteries more effective and faster. When we are thinking about the speed of electric powered aircraft, we might think that they are slow, but in fact, the thing is not necessary like that.  We all know that the combustion in the motor can be replaced by the electric arc, and if there is the jet engine, what is known as the electric-arc jet, that means that the aircraft can fly extremely fast.  Also, other electric dynamic motors like ion motors can be used with normal batteries, but the problem is the time, what the capacity of the batteries stands.