Flight Through Titan'S Atmosphere - University Of California, Berkeley: Fill & Download for Free

During the Cassini mission, the trajectory was changed (several times) for better fly-bys with Enceladus, after the discovery of the plumes of water on that moon.Several other adjustments happend to get better data at Titan, a few other moons, and at last, the final flights through the rings.One of the Voyagers was rerouted, too.

Like a wisp of fog in a summer's dawn.The Hulk is superhumanly tough, his durability has few equals on the Marvel Earth. His strength, is without limits. He can take a beating because of his strength and incredible regenerative capacities.The sun, however, is far more powerful than the Hulk could ever hope to be.But he's the Hulk, you say. The mightiest mortal on Earth.Yes, he has tackled some of the Marvel Universe's most incredible beings: Black Bolt, the Abomination, the mighty Thor, even the mad Titan, Thanos.Yes, he has had ninety percent of his flesh stripped from his body only to regenerate it (without a corresponding source of matter, no less) in seconds.Yes, the Hulk has even survived being buried under a mountain by tons of rock.Yes, the Hulk has suffered intense heat and flames from metahumans on Earth such as Johnny Storm who is capable of generating plasmic flames (called a supernova attack) of 1.1 million degrees kelvin and the Hulk was apparently unaffected. That is an incorrect assumption.The Hulk was affected. He regenerated and continued moving. But in comparison to being on the sun, he would have to continue doing that at temperatures far, far greater.With few exceptions, most of Marvel's lineup of heroes would be dwarfed by the power of a star.Marvel heroes fly into the Sun all the time..Some Marvel heroes do fly near or into stars or are at least theoretically capable of doing so.Dark Phoenix, Thor, Gladiator, Sentry, Spectrum are all examples of Marvel heroes who have danced in the light of stars, far closer than science says they should be able to.Cosmic beings like Galactus or the Silver Surfer are shielded against such external energies of a star by their technology. But even they may find themselves challenged by the true internal environments of stars.Understand, most comic writers are not scientists. Not even close. So there are times when Marvel characters end up fighting near, on or in a sun and are not destroyed utterly.Dark Phoenix flies through the heart of a star, absorbing its fuel and causing a supernova. To her credit, the Phoenix is a primal force in the Universe, theoretically more powerful than a single sun.Thor opens a portal to a realm, reputed the heart of the Sun and battles Atum, a proto-god of a previous era. I suspect this isn't actually the sun, but a fiery mystic realm where Atum was hiding. This couldn't possibly be the center of the sun as we know it.Stars don't seem that awesome, then.While these examples are interesting, I would consider them less than scientifically sound, because what we do know about most Marvel heroes, is they can at least be staggered by the power of nuclear weapons or do their best to avoid having to be at ground zero of a nuclear explosion.A nuclear weapon is the most power expression of explosive capacity on Marvel's Earth.In most cases, the explosion lasts for a few minutes and then the energy of the explosion is spent.This is the 50 megaton Tsar Bomba, the most powerful nuclear weapon to ever be used on our Earth. It destroyed everything within a fifteen mile radius, could generate third degree burns for sixty four miles and generated light able to be seen 600 miles away.It could reach temperatures of a ten million degrees during the peak of the weapon's explosion which lasts approximately ten seconds.In comparison, one second of the sun' complete solar output is the equivalent of multiplying the world’s entire nuclear stockpile seven million times and detonating it.It's a dry heat...If we can presume the Hulk could survive the most powerful nuclear attack possible on Earth, such an attack would pale in comparison to the sustained power of the sun if he were flung into it. Let's assume someone could figure out HOW to throw the Hulk into the sun, what would that journey look like?He would have to survive the flight through space TO the sun. Assuming it was at the speed of light, it would take him about eight and a half minutes to reach the sun.Once he got close, he would have to pass through the sun's corona before reaching the surface, an area whose temperature is a cool one to three million degrees, Celsius. The corona is a few thousand miles across so he would not be there long. Let's assume he is still able to regenerate himself, he would pass through the corona and into the cooler regions of the outer surface of the sun.Plunging through the corona, he would still have to contend with cooling but sustained temperatures until he reached the surface or the photosphere of the sun, a relatively cool six thousand degrees Celsius.Unlike power outputs from supervillains where the Hulk would get a chance to recover, catch his breath, concentrate and regenerate himself. Here, he gets no respite, draws no breath and even if he could continue to regenerate, he is constantly under assault as he sinks into the sun's surface where the second stage of the assault will occur, increasing heat and pressure from the mass of the sun itself.He would sink past the convection layer (assuming his regenerative powers would allow him to continue to exist at all) toward the increasing pressure of the radiative zone of the core of the sun. This is where fifty to eighty percent of all of the sun's energy output is created.Inside the core of the sun, he will begin to experience fantastic pressures across every square inch of his body as the sun's incredible size begins compressing its gaseous form into a material with more pressure than solid rock on Earth. Even at the heart of our planet where pressures can equal 3. 6 million atmospheres, the core of the sun is still a thousand times denser than that.By the time he were to reach the core of the sun, he would be exposed to fifteen million degrees and pressures equal to four trillion pounds per square inch.Despite his incredible physical properties, he would be stripped of his molecular integrity by the intense action this deep inside the sun, and its incredible pressures would prevent him from being able to reform.The center of the sun is a hell so hot, with pressures so high, matter as we understand it is fused under those pressures until they generate radioactive energy. Not even the regenerative powers of the Hulk could resist this. Not even for a second. This is the force of billions of Earth's most powerful nuclear weapons again and again and again every second.The core of the Sun is considered to extend from the center to about 0.2 to 0.25 solar radius. It is the hottest part of the Sun and of the Solar System. It has a density of 150 g/cm³ (150 times the density of liquid water) at the center, and a temperature of close to 15,700,000 kelvin, or about 15,700,000 degrees Celsius; by contrast, the surface of the Sun is close to 6,000 kelvin. The core is made of hot, dense gas in the plasmic state (ions and electrons), at a pressure estimated at 265 billion bar (26.5 petapascals(PPa) or 3.84 trillion psi) at the center.Let's put the Hulk in the proper perspective.Putting the Earth in scale to the sun, shows just how small and insignificant the Earth is compared to the sun. We could hurl the entire solar system into the sun and the sun wouldn't be noticeably affected, one way or the other.As a long-time comic reader, I recognize most writers aren't necessarily scientifically literate and accept they are telling the best stories they can given their scientific literacy. With that understanding, every tale is compared to every other tale and different writers with different levels of literacy will show heroes doing completely different, even contradictory things.Having a bit more science in my background, it is clear the Hulk (and few other Marvel heroes) have the direct capacity to challenge what is still the most powerful expressions of matter and energy in the Universe, the power of a star. Stars are amazing because of their size, their scale and the ability to put out energy for millions or even billions of years, relatively unchanged.And as great as the difference between our sun and our planets have been shown, there are stars which are far, far greater than our own.The Hulk may be one of the most powerful creatures on Earth, but in comparison to the power and scale of even our relatively puny Sun, he may as well be the Earth's most powerful fruit fly.ReferencesSee an earlier article I published on the Science Fiction and Fantasy Stack Exchange: Is the Hulk immortal?Other Articles on the HulkWho is better, Vision or the Hulk?Marvel Comics: Is Bruce Banner a mutant?Would the Hulk be an acceptable Sith apprentice?

Pretty much everything we see in Attack on Titan. That show never fails to impress me in this regard. The makers of the anime/manga clearly try to follow things to logical conclusions based on what their world is capable of and how they would innovate solutions for a given problem.Take this, for example, the Titan Guillotine/“Executioner from Hell”. This is a completely plausible and logical solution that they are capable of.If you’re not familiar with the show basically the Titans are well…titans ranging from a few meters tall all the way up to fifteen meters. Some are as large as 60–100m others have certain powers or abilities but these are the exception, not the rule. They are largely immune to damage and if hurt they will just regenerate. Their one weakness is at the nape of their neck. The Titans are driven by a desire to eat or kill pretty much any humans they see. Think of them as a kind of giant zombie (They’re not zombies though). To stop the Titans from killing all the humans three massive concentric walls were built to keep the Titans out and that is where humanity resides. (Yes, fans, I know that there’s a lot more to it than that.) Human technology is roughly equivalent of the mid-late 1800s in some respects and 1700s in others. I want to say it’s kind of like Steampunk but that wouldn’t be entirely accurate. If you’ve never seen the show, I highly suggest watching it. (Subs, not Dubs, personal opinion I find dubbing to feel off, no matter the language or live-action vs animated.)Prior to the construction of the guillotine(s), humans used cannons, muskets, and swords to fight the Titans. They also use something called Three-Dimensional Maneuver Gear so they can position themselves for a strike on the Titans’ weak spot. (It’s pretty much a harness with grappling hooks that are propelled by a piston and when the grappling hooks latch on to something the user is reeled in. It’s not terribly realistic but neither are laser swords and magic wands. Vertical maneuvering equipment in case you want a better explanation.)The durability, viciousness, and seemingly endless numbers of Titans poses a huge problem for humanity since they have finite numbers, even fewer numbers of experienced soldiers. Even using the maneuver gear casualty rates are extremely high.Eventually, the androgynous and ever-intelligent (If a bit over-enthusiastic) Hange Zoë came up with the idea for the guillotine as a solution to this problem. A human would stand in between the walls of the guillotine in order to lure in a Titan. Once the Titan pokes his head through to attack the human a massive log is released and crushes the nape of the Titan’s neck, killing them instantly. At the point of writing this, there have been no human casualties while using the guillotine. It was so effective that every single Titan within one of the breached section of walls was killed.This isn’t the only example of innovation in Attack on Titan. When confronted by a Titan that has armored skin specific tactics and equipment were devised to defeat it. Again, Hange Zoë was the inventor of something called the “Thunder Spear”. This is a rocket-propelled explosive that can pierce armor and embed itself. After it has penetrated into the armor a lanyard is pulled and this detonates the charge. Once the armor is mitigated soldiers attack the nape of the neck using their maneuver gear and swords. It is also effective at killing regular unarmored Titans.In order to combat any rebellious elements of the military, a specific type of maneuver gear was made with that purpose in mind and is/was used by the AoT equivalent of the Kempetai or secret police. It exists solely to kill humans.Similar to many modern machine-guns the barrel can detach. All the barrels are pre-loaded and when one has been fired the user replaces it with a spare barrel that they are wearing on their person. Think of it as something similar to pirates and boarding parties in the Age of Sail carrying multiple pistols.Now for a spoiler alert because at this point I can’t say certain things without giving away more specific plot points. This mostly deals with the Titans. I’ll try to be as unspoilery as I can.Consider yourself warned.In one of the recent episodes, a Titan is used as a pack mule/weapons platform. This is interesting to me because writers don’t usually think about that sort of thing. It carries luggage and projectiles for other Titans.Yes, some of the Titans are sapient. Watch the show to find out why/how.There is a Titan known as the Beast Titan who is especially intelligent. The Beast Titan has the Cart Titan retrieve boulders for him. The Beast Titan then proceeds to crush them into gravel and he pitches them at the human soldiers. (Yes, pitches them like a baseball player. Baseball is very popular in Japan.) Instead of lobbing massive stones like a trebuchet he employs what could be described as Titan Canister Shot. That’s smart. His enemy can move fast and is small. His solution? Use a long-range shotgun spray to decimate the human troops and destroy buildings.This next tactic is especially spoilery so consider yourself warned again.Some humans can transform into Titans. There’s a Titan that creates a massive explosion when he transforms from human to his Titan form, the Colossal Titan. (He’s one of the 60m ones.) The Beast Titan flings the Colossal Titan (In human form) over one of the walls into a city that many human soldiers are trying to secure. He doesn’t transform in flight (Which would have been more effective but whatever) but he eventually transforms and the explosion kills or wounds many of the humans. It’s akin to a low-yield nuclear blast.Not only that but the Colossal Titan is now blocking the humans’ line of retreat from the far side of the wall.On top of that, the Colossal Titan begins to throw fiery debris over the wall while the Beast Titan is still flinging his gravel/canister shot at the majority of the remaining humans. Effectively they are trapped.On top of that, the exit/entrance was sealed by the humans so they could deal with any Titans in that district without worrying about being flanked or attracting more Titans. (Cue “It’s a Trap!”) The humans' primary means of transportation are horses and since the horses can’t get through the blocked exit they cannot effectively retreat.What happens next? Read the manga or watch the show. I hardly offer praise on the tactics of TV shows or movies (Looking at you Battle of Wakanda, Battle of the Bastards, and Battle of Winterfell/Ice and Fire). I could go on and on about what I find legitimately smart about this show from a military view. The creators of Attack on Titan follow the rules they make for themselves. They innovate based on those rules and adhere to them. That is what I like to see in fiction.Plus, my cat is named Mikasa, after the pre-dreadnought battleship, not the character, although she is my favorite. (She’s named after the ship as well anyway.) I fully admit my bias here.