"C.Fleming" wrote in message
...
During the last few months, several threads have discussed soaring
possibilities on Mars, but what about Titan? The NASA probe Cassini,
launched in 1997 will arrive in Saturn's orbit this summer, and will send
a
probe to land on Titan in January 2005.

Titan is Saturn's largest moon. It is a fraction of the size of Earth,
but
has an atmosphere almost 4 times denser, and several times higher. Like
Earth, Titan's atmosphere is mostly nitrogen, and its surface may have
oceans and continents. The weather on Titan is very active, possibly
including thunderstorms with lighting and rain. Yes, it's cold. Very
old. -190 F., perhaps. The oceans are of methane, as would be the rain.
The world would certainly be unfriendly to humans. ....BUT, ignore all
that!

The facts: less gravity, and more atmosphere.
The guesses: weather convection and a diverse lunar surface.
The question: good soaring, or bad?

Chris Fleming, 'L9'

Titan is too far from the sun and the atmosphere is too overcast for solar
powered thermals. But, there are other ways to heat the surface such as
vulcanizm or tidal bending of Titans crust by Saturn's gravity. All you
need is a steep lapse rate. On the plus side, seeing Saturn looming huge in
the sky would be a treat.

The interesting thing about Mars is that, should it prove possible to
terraform it to an atmosphere of 1013 mb, the new atmosphere would not be
squeezed close to the surface like Earth's because of the 1/3rd gravity.
The top of the planetary boundary layer might be three times the height of
Earth's. Think thermals ten miles tall. I haven't read any speculation
about the probable atmospheric science characteristics of a terraformed
Mars. It might be a pretty violent atmosphere.

Soaring has figured in several Science Fiction plots as a way to get
characters around an energy deficient planet. An acquaintance of mine who
is a SF fan was astonished to find that soaring really exists on Earth much
as it was portrayed in his favorite stories.

Bill Daniels