One overarching thought: Somebody, sometime, has to be the one to do any given thing first for any given situation.

TiME would be one of the most memorable of those in my lifetime.

I suspect that the general public will feel much the same.

(Damn right this is a shameless plug!!!)

Ralph, as ever your insights are most welcome and highly prized here. There is no 'people's court', and yet inevitably there is bound to be some kind of 'people's court in exile', articulated in small part on this forum. You say that posing questions here may have a damaging effect. Let's hope enthusiastic support can work the other way. I think it's pretty clear you already have the majority of the jury.

Thanks Ralph. Really just curiosity on my part. I am fascinated by physical challenges and cutting-edge solutions. I am grateful for your willingness to share with us when you can. Best of luck with this.

I think it's "time" for TiME to graduate to its own Saturn thread instead of being forever buried in the Cassini Huygens sub-threads.

Hmm, perhaps. It even gets a mention on xkcd today......

http://xkcd.com/1074/

wasn't the next Discovery mission selection to be announced this month?

NASA presentations have said 'Mid-July'
http://www.lpi.usra.edu/meetings/lpsc2012/.../Green_LPSC.pdf

"Exploring Titan by boat":
http://vimeo.com/44046816

I hope that TiME wins the decision of "Discovery 2012" !

Rob

Interesting video and presentation by Dr. Ellen Stofan. Not sure of the exact date of this talk but its been posted since the 2nd week of June. Her review of Titan's geology and the TIME mission is beautifully done.
An interesting revelation occurs at the 18:00 minute mark when she hints strongly that another volcano has been discovered in the radar swath of the Titan flyby 'last week'. If I have my dates correct that would be the T84 flyby SAR taken on June 7th! http://www.ciclops.org/view/7216/Rev167
Not exactly sure where along the T84 groundtrack http://www.unmannedspaceflight.com/index.p...st&id=26929 the possible volcano is but can't wait to see that SAR.

I'm very distressed to learn today that a mars lander/seismograph was chosen rather than Time. Much as I like Mars and would like info on the interior, TiME seemed to have a much more potentially interesting payoff.

It is what it is; gotta press on. Perhaps it will win the next Discovery round.

just wondering (sorry if this has been already asked or if it's a silly question): since a northern mare landing seems to be ruled out until the 2040s, would a southern landing in Ontario work?

To me, a sad day for science and exploration!
Another mission to the martian desert. We already have three rovers on Mars.
They forget Venus, Europa, Titan, Enceladus and Triton!
Yet Titan may be the right place to better understand the chemistry of carbon and the mechanisms that may lead to the emergence of a carbon-based lifeform.
Titan has lakes, seas and rivers but people focus their attention on the martian desert and most people don't know Titan.
Really surprinsing!

I suspect no-one's forgotten any of them.
Where's the money?

P

Er one of the three rovers on Mars is dead, so there are two operating.

And that totally invalidates his point....

Everybody, once again a reminder: Review the rules (esp. 1.2 and 1.7) & post accordingly.

One never says never in this business, but Ontario is (a) known to be shallow and ( is much smaller than Ligeia, and quite likely smaller than the landing ellipse for a passive descent.

While the time-sensitivity of TiME was all the more reason to select it now, it may have also contributed to the budgetary and technical risk associated with the mission. I can imagine the project falling behind schedule, then having to (potentially massively) overspend to catch up. don't get me wrong, I was rooting for TiME because it is awesome, but there's almost no debating that Insight is the better Discovery mission.

One may expect that the level of Ontario Lacus could rise as the Winter season approaches in the southern hemisphere (Winter Solstice in 2016 if I'm correct).
Mezzoramia may become the Kraken Mare of the southern hemisphere (as Volcanopele had already suggested a few years ago).
The south polar vortex recently observed is probably the sign of a change.
Let's be patient and let's observe!