Highlights Physics-based estimation of surface winds for mission design of Dragonfly. Considers global, regional (slope) and convective wind components. Estimates ‘dust devil’ vortex recurrence intervals.
Abstract Winds near the ground on Titan for the Dragonfly landing site (near Selk crater, 10°N) for the mid-2030s (Titan late southern summer, Ls ~ 310°) are estimated for mission design purposes. Prevailing winds due to the global circulation are typically 0.5 m/s, and do not exceed 1 m/s. Local terrain-induced flows such as slope winds appear to be similarly capped at 1 m/s. At various landing sites and times, these two contributions will vectorially combine to yield steady winds (for part of a Titan day, Tsol) of up to 2.0 m/s, but typically less – the slope wind component will be small in the mid-morning. In early afternoon, as on Earth and Mars, solar-driven convection in the planetary boundary layer will cause wind fluctuations of the order of 0.1 m/s, varying with a typical timescale of ~1000 s. Occasionally this convection organizes into coherent ‘dust devil’ vortices: detectable vortices with speeds of 1 m/s are predicted about once per Titan day. We have introduced the convective velocity scale combined with the advection time of PBL cells as a metric to derive the frequency of occurrence of gusts associated with convective vortices (‘dust devils’). Maximum possible vortex winds on Titan of 2.8 m/s may be expected only once per 40 Tsols, and define the maximum wind (4.8 m/s at 10 m height) that Dragonfly must tolerate without damage. The applicability of different wind combinations, scaled to the height of relevant Dragonfly components above the ground (e.g. the maximum corresponds to 3.9 m/s at 1.3 m height) by a logarithmic wind profile, to Dragonfly design and operations are discussed.
An engineering model of Titan surface winds for Dragonfly landed operations
Advances in Space Research ; 67 , 7 ; 2219-2230
2021-01-13
12 pages
Aufsatz (Zeitschrift)
Elektronische Ressource
Englisch
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