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Re:Scientists discover evidence for a habitable region on Sa... by Symmetry on Tuesday May 16, 2017 @08:33AM (#14349034)
Yeah, a Hohmann transfer to Saturn would take a very long time. The trip is long enough, though, that it would make a lot of sense to spend months accelerating under an electric drive in order to achieve a faster transfer. But it is 10 km/s even for Hohmann burn and once you get there you need to shed 4 km/s. In theory you could aerocapture but that isn't something we have the technology for right now. Well, we know how to aerocapture straight into a descent so you could go that route if you're headed to Titan but not anywhere else around Saturn.
Re:Scientists discover evidence for a habitable region on Sa... by philipov on Tuesday May 16, 2017 @02:33PM (#14352085)
Okay, so it's simple: first we build a base on Titan as the transportation hub for the Saturn system, and transfer there to get to Enceladus [autocorrect wants to change this to Enchiladas].

Wouldn't it make sense to have a methane mining base on Titan anyway?

Re:Scientists discover evidence for a habitable region on Sa... by Symmetry on Tuesday May 16, 2017 @03:45PM (#14352648)
Refueling on Titan might make a lot of sense. Getting methane is pretty much just a matter of piping it or freezing it out of the atmosphere. Getting oxygen from the CO2 in the atmosphere would be an industrial process and require considerable energy but it beats having to carry the oxygen with you.