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Titan's damp ground: Constraints on Titan surface thermal properties from the temperature evolution of the Huygens GCMS inlet
Author(s) -
Lorenz Ralph D.,
Niemann Hasso B.,
Harpold Dan N.,
Way Stanley H.,
Zarnecki John C.
Publication year - 2006
Publication title -
meteoritics and planetary science
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.09
H-Index - 100
eISSN - 1945-5100
pISSN - 1086-9379
DOI - 10.1111/j.1945-5100.2006.tb00446.x
Subject(s) - titan (rocket family) , inlet , methane , thermal , convection , thermal conduction , atmospheric sciences , mechanics , thermodynamics , geology , chemistry , astrobiology , physics , organic chemistry , geomorphology
— 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 Saturn's 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 Titan's 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.