Missions to Titan, the Enigmatic Moon of Saturn

Dr. Patricia Beauchamp, JPL

The Cassini-Huygens mission has revolutionized our understanding of theTitan system and its potential for harbouring the ingredients necessary for life. The discoveries reveal that Titan is rich in organics, possibly  contains a vast subsurface ocean and has energy sources to drive chemical evolution. With these recent findings, the interest in Titan as the next scientific target in the outer Solar System is strongly reinforced. This presentation will discuss how results from the Cassini-Huygens mission have led to a future mission concept, which was completed in 2008 when NASA commissioned a new mission study of the Titan Saturn System.