Another constraint is that the probe would have to be launched AFTER the orbiter, since the orbiter would be a mission requirement. Therefore, the probe trajectory would have to shorten the cruise, maybe by a year or so.
I guess if you are thinking of an entry probe that would cost hundreds of millions of dollar, the above opinion is probably accurate. On the other hand, I am considering a very cheap system, where is where the "battery powered" comes in.
Why not use a beta battery as these are cheap to manufacture relatively speaking.http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/BetavoltaicsThen use a Sr-90 heat source to keep it all from freezing.Another power source that may be present on Titian that could be used to argument the beta battery might be wind.
EDIT: Even powered by a small lithium-ion coin battery (much less than a kilogram) would provide years of microwatt power, though you may still want radioisotope heaters to keep the electronics alive...
If a Huygens sized probe were to precision landed in such a body, and dropped an anchor to the sea-floor, it could use wave-power to gather and transmit data to an orbiter, assuming that there's enough wind to make any sort of waves.
Quote from: Robotbeat on 05/03/2010 06:40 pmEDIT: Even powered by a small lithium-ion coin battery (much less than a kilogram) would provide years of microwatt power, though you may still want radioisotope heaters to keep the electronics alive...Is there any battery chemistry that works at titan surface temps (-180c or so) ?If you already have RHUs, getting a microwatts of electricity out of them shouldn't be a problem. The RHUs on Cassini are about 40 grams and 1 watt thermal.
Of course, you will need more than microwatts to transmit data to your orbiter.
All I am asking for here is a look at an entry probe that could be a companion to some future Saturn orbiter - what would be a minimum cost version?
WHY such a probe should be flown is another story, why was the first one flown?
100s of millions