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Seismology on Titan: A Seismic Signal and Noise Budget in Preparation for Dragonfly

Session: Insight Seismology on Mars: Results From the First Martian Year of Data and Prospects for the Future [Poster]

Type: Poster

Date: 4/23/2021

Presentation Time: 11:30 AM Pacific

Description: 

The Dragonfly mission to Titan under the NASA New Frontiers Program is scheduled to launch in 2027 and explore Titan for ~3 years in the mid-2030s. Among other instruments, it would include a geophysical and meteorological package (DraGMet), that would give us our first seismic measurements of an icy ocean world. While there are literature discussions of the kinds of seismic observations that we may expect to see in icy ocean worlds, quantitative estimates of the amplitudes and uncertainties of likely seismic signal and noise sources on Titan for the Dragonfly mission are critical. In this study we begin initial quantification of likely signal and noise from (a) icequakes in Titan’s shell scaled by tidal dissipation energy based on generalized approaches applied to tidally active worlds, (b) published estimates of microseismic noise due to wave interaction in methane/ethane seas, and (c) atmospheric noise based on measurements from the InSight seismic deployment on Mars and limited data from Venera landers on Venus scaled by atmospheric acoustic impedance and solar energy flux or by expected dynamic wind pressure. We will also discuss possible noise from currents in the subsurface ocean, lander-generated noise (both due to Dragonfly activities and wind interactions with the lander), as well as more exotic sources like “booming dunes” which are observed on Earth and may be relevant to the Titan dunefields at Dragonfly's initial landing site. These signal and noise estimates will be compared with sensitivity of planetary seismic instrumentation to better constrain the probability of observing different seismic signals.

Presenting Author: Mark P. Panning

Student Presenter: No

Authors