the huyghens lander was developed from known data about titan, plus some educated guesses about what might be interesting to observe and measure on the way down. from those data we have lots of follow-on questions. cassini was proposed in the 1980s, launched in 1997, and got to saturn in 2004. a new mission to titan would have a similar timeline.
what are your plans? these missions are developed by researchers. they don't appear magically out of nowhere. if you think you can contribute, go for it!
-
404error say: I'd say Titan as we have proof Titan is resource-rich
-
quantumclaustrophobe say: We've already landed a probe on Titan; It's so cold there, I'm *doubting* even microbial life could have evolved - but... I could be wrong. I'd say the better bet would be Europa - but, you can't look for it on the surface... we'll have to melt through the ice (thought to be up to 10 *miles* thick), covering a moon-wide ocean... so, we'd need to develop a lander that could lower a submarine probe through 10 miles of ice.... How hard can that be?
-
Gary B say: Its just you.
-
Quadrillian say: Of course we should. We would then get to see something that is totally unlike anything that exists on Earth. Don't forget the sulphur volcanoes on Io, and whatever is below the clouds of the ice giants (uranus and neptune).
Unfortunately nasa has lost the plot and is now a puppet of their astrobiology "institute", and has publicly declared that they are more interested in looking for mythical space boogers than any kind of genuine exploration.
Forget the "microbial life" caper. That is just another pathetic suck up to the "life in space" religion. We really should go those planets you mention to see vistas that are truly unlike anything we have seen before.
But with nasa rapidly disappearing up it's own uranus, the real business of exploring the strange worlds of our solar system will likely be left to the Russians, Chinese or Indians.