Titan Mission Development

Why Titan?

Titan is a very complex world, the only one we know of today, beyond our own planet, to possess a thick nitrogen-based atmosphere, a geologically-complex active surface with lakes and organic deposits and a sub-surface ocean. The physical process within this world beg further investigation in order to better understand the processes also on Earth. For instance, the methane cycle in the atmosphere, the formation of lakes, craters and mountains on the surface, the interior structure, etc can only be completely understood with a future mission which will combine both orbiter and in situ exploration.