Astronomers at Cornell University in the United States have revealed the minimum depth of the largest sea on Titan, called the Kraken Sea. It is estimated that the seabed in the center of the sea sinks by more than 300 meters, which in the future will allow exploration using uninhabited submarines. This is reported in an article published in the Journal of Geophysical Research: Planets. The research is summarized in a press release at Phys.org.
Scientists have analyzed the data obtained by the Cassini space probe on August 21, 2014. Then the device explored the Sea of Ligeia in the north of the satellite of Saturn, however, radar altimeters were also used to measure the depth of the Kraken Sea and the Sine Sea. At the same time, the researchers needed to evaluate the degree of absorption of radio waves by the liquid, as well as take into account the difference between the return of echoes from the seabed and the sea surface.
The depth of the Sinus Sea was 85 meters, while the mixture of ethane and methane was dominated by methane, which made the natural reservoir similar to the Sea of Ligeia. The exact depth of the Kraken Sea, which contains about 80 percent of the liquid throughout Titan, could not be measured due to its too deep depth. However, this reservoir could be the target for an exploration mission using a robotic submarine, which probably will not have a mechanical engine.