Titans damp ground: Constraints on Titan surface thermal properties from the temperature evolution of the Huygens GCMS inlet
A simple thermal model is developed to determine the temperature history of the inlet tube of the Huygens probe gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS) after its fortuitous emplacement on the surface of Saturns moon Titan. The model parameters are adjusted to match the recorded temperature histor...
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ftunivarizonaojs:oai:journals.uair.arizona.edu:article/15354 2023-05-15T17:11:57+02:00 Titans damp ground: Constraints on Titan surface thermal properties from the temperature evolution of the Huygens GCMS inlet LORENZ, R. D. NIEMANN, H. B. HARPOLD, D. N. WAY, S. H. ZARNECKI, J. C. 2006-01-01 application/pdf https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/maps/article/view/15354 eng eng Meteoritics & Planetary Science Archives https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/maps/article/view/15354/15342 https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/maps/article/view/15354 Meteoritics & Planetary Science Archives; Vol 41, No 11 (2006); 1705-1714 1945-5100 1086-9379 Thermal modeling;Spacecraft;Titan;Evaporation info:eu-repo/semantics/article info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersion Peer-reviewed Article 2006 ftunivarizonaojs 2020-11-14T17:53:00Z A simple thermal model is developed to determine the temperature history of the inlet tube of the Huygens probe gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS) after its fortuitous emplacement on the surface of Saturns moon Titan. The model parameters are adjusted to match the recorded temperature history of a nearby heater, taking into account heat losses by conduction to the rest of the probe and to Titans cold atmosphere. The model suggests that after impact when forced convective cooling ceased, the inlet temperature rose from ~110 K to an asymptotic value of only ~145 K. This requires that the inlet was embedded in a surface that acted as an effective heat sink, most plausibly interpreted as wet or damp with liquid methane. The data appear inconsistent with a tar or dry, fine-grained surface, and the inlet was not warm enough to devolatilize methane hydrate. Article in Journal/Newspaper Methane hydrate Journals at the University of Arizona |
institution |
Open Polar |
collection |
Journals at the University of Arizona |
op_collection_id |
ftunivarizonaojs |
language |
English |
topic |
Thermal modeling;Spacecraft;Titan;Evaporation |
spellingShingle |
Thermal modeling;Spacecraft;Titan;Evaporation LORENZ, R. D. NIEMANN, H. B. HARPOLD, D. N. WAY, S. H. ZARNECKI, J. C. Titans damp ground: Constraints on Titan surface thermal properties from the temperature evolution of the Huygens GCMS inlet |
topic_facet |
Thermal modeling;Spacecraft;Titan;Evaporation |
description |
A simple thermal model is developed to determine the temperature history of the inlet tube of the Huygens probe gas chromatograph mass spectrometer (GCMS) after its fortuitous emplacement on the surface of Saturns moon Titan. The model parameters are adjusted to match the recorded temperature history of a nearby heater, taking into account heat losses by conduction to the rest of the probe and to Titans cold atmosphere. The model suggests that after impact when forced convective cooling ceased, the inlet temperature rose from ~110 K to an asymptotic value of only ~145 K. This requires that the inlet was embedded in a surface that acted as an effective heat sink, most plausibly interpreted as wet or damp with liquid methane. The data appear inconsistent with a tar or dry, fine-grained surface, and the inlet was not warm enough to devolatilize methane hydrate. |
format |
Article in Journal/Newspaper |
author |
LORENZ, R. D. NIEMANN, H. B. HARPOLD, D. N. WAY, S. H. ZARNECKI, J. C. |
author_facet |
LORENZ, R. D. NIEMANN, H. B. HARPOLD, D. N. WAY, S. H. ZARNECKI, J. C. |
author_sort |
LORENZ, R. D. |
title |
Titans damp ground: Constraints on Titan surface thermal properties from the temperature evolution of the Huygens GCMS inlet |
title_short |
Titans damp ground: Constraints on Titan surface thermal properties from the temperature evolution of the Huygens GCMS inlet |
title_full |
Titans damp ground: Constraints on Titan surface thermal properties from the temperature evolution of the Huygens GCMS inlet |
title_fullStr |
Titans damp ground: Constraints on Titan surface thermal properties from the temperature evolution of the Huygens GCMS inlet |
title_full_unstemmed |
Titans damp ground: Constraints on Titan surface thermal properties from the temperature evolution of the Huygens GCMS inlet |
title_sort |
titans damp ground: constraints on titan surface thermal properties from the temperature evolution of the huygens gcms inlet |
publisher |
Meteoritics & Planetary Science Archives |
publishDate |
2006 |
url |
https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/maps/article/view/15354 |
genre |
Methane hydrate |
genre_facet |
Methane hydrate |
op_source |
Meteoritics & Planetary Science Archives; Vol 41, No 11 (2006); 1705-1714 1945-5100 1086-9379 |
op_relation |
https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/maps/article/view/15354/15342 https://journals.uair.arizona.edu/index.php/maps/article/view/15354 |
_version_ |
1766068717948502016 |