If it were possible, I'd love to visit Saturn. Just to land on its fragile surface, and to experience the

Question

stillness. But oh, it must be so cold! And what benefit could mankind get from this ringed planet? Does it have any precious minerals? I wonder?

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Answer 1

Saturn does not have a surface, first of all. And if you were to float around in the atmosphere, it would be anything but still. It is very turbulent, compared to anything on earth.

And yes, it is very cold. Colder than any place on earth. I can't remember where I saw this, but it was debated once where the most earthlike conditions could be found on other planets. One suggestion was having a dirigible-like station at a certain altitude of Venus' atmosphere where it would be temperate and the pressure would be within tolerance range for humans. You could walk out on a platform in shirt sleeves and only have to wear an oxygen mask.

Answer 2

While you cannot visit Saturn, how about the closest thing to it available on the Net??
The imaging team of the Cassini mission to Saturn which is currently in progress has it's own web site with very up-to-date images. If you look at the dates of when these images were taken, you'll find that the latest ones are posted within a very short time of coming from the Satellite, not quite live, but pretty close.
And these images are awesome, you feel as if you were practically there. Talk about closeups!! New rings, Moons nobody even knew existed etc. are all there.
They even have a section that lets you follow the whole mission chronologically.
If you are interested in anything Saturn, this is THE site for you.
Take a look at www.ciclops.org and enjoy!

Adolph

Answer 3

It is possible that gas giants have cores of super heavy or super dense elements, which then create enough gravity to keep the huge gaseous atmosphere. I can see no other way for the creation of huge gas giants, there must be a super heavy or super dense solid core of some sort. They may be small with vast volumes of gases and liquids circling them.
We have yet to fully probe the gas giants of our system, since any craft we send into the gas giant ends up being crushed by the pressure and intense gravity well.

More then likely there are liquids near this core that could not exist naturally without the necessary atmospheric pressure and cold temperature. Such as liquid methane, liquid Hydrogen and hydrocarbons of various types, liquid oxides of various types, and many other gases that only occur in small quantities on earth, such as the noble gases like Argon.

Just as on Earth, the higher you go into the atmosphere the more gases would be prevalent(because there is less atmospheric pressure), hence what we can observe as the planets being gaseous.

The gravity alone around Jupiter and Saturn is enough to make you a human pancake. The only way you would be able to survive in such an environment would be with anti-gravity devices and materials that can withstand intense pressures.

Answer 4

Saturn is a beautiful planet. If it did have a solid surface it would be small and anything but delicate. It would be made of silica, iron or possibly of metallic hydrogen which is purely theoretical. The atmospheric pressure on Saturn exceeds the pressure found at the bottom of the ocean so you would be crushed if you tried to land on it. There really isn't any rational ideas on how to explore the depths of this planet. The only reason we know what the outer surface of the atmosphere is made up of is because of spectral analysis. There is just no way of knowing what is going on inside the planet at this time.

Answer 5

Saturn (not including its rings) doesn't have any minerals on it. The "surface" that you see is just gasses, which aren't breathable for humans. And it's core is made of water, much like Jupiter. So you couldn't land on it.

And those gasses are swirling at unbelievable speeds, faster than any hurricane or tornado on Earth.

Pretty much the only benefit we can get from this planet right now is it's wonder, innocence and beauty. And yes, it is very very cold. You'd freeze to death.

Answer 6

Atmospheric pressures of the gasoline giants create liquid metals above the solid cores. build a probe waiting to stand up to the pressures and it does not land on a sturdy floor yet a liquid metallic one. maximum folk of the quantity of those planets is gasoline. for that reason their classification as gasoline giants. Many scientists be sure the dimensions of a planet not by its extremely floor yet by the diameter of its environment. it extremely is like asserting the dimensions of Earth starts on the mesosphere quite of on the crust/oceanic floor. it extremely is the place the confusion arises while speaking relating to the gasoline giants. All planets are quite comparable in shape. The gasoline giants are catagorized by their very super atmospheres yet below the ambience they do have liquid surfaces and inner rock cores. The liquid floor of Jupiter is steel hydrogen. Saturn- contains greater helium than hydrogen yet liquid helium sinks further to the middle than liquid hydrogen so the respond is the comparable as Jupiter. Uranus- liquid water/ammonia combination Neptune- concept to be liquid hydrogen

Answer 7

It would be cool to see it up close with your own eyes, but unfortunately you could not land on its surface because it doesn't have one. It is a gas giant planet. What we see as a surface is just the top layer of a cloudy atmosphere thousands of miles think. If there is a solid center, it is more of a core than a surface.

Answer 8

Huge planets tend to have lots of useful gases. Also, recent evidence suggests they might be diamond-makers.

However, it isn't Saturn that's interesting humans at this point, it's the moons that orbit it. One such moon, Titan, is a good candidate for life.

Answer 9

Sorry to dissapoint you, but saturn does not have a solid surface. Thats why its called a gas giant, so as jupiter, nepturn and uranus.

Answer 10

Hi. Isaac Asimov once predicted that it would be a source of helium to be used for supercomputers. High temperature superconductors kind of ruined that theory.