SEAFARER: Navigating Unknown Seas: An L4-class space mission concept for the exploration of the Saturnian System developed during the ESA 2024 Summer School Alpbach

Fabian  Weichbold; Diogo Quirino; Agathe BOUIS; Samuele Vaghi; David Placke; Anike Ohm; Julia Wiltenburg; Eléna Sango González; Vincent Affatato; Johanna Buerger; Brent Quanten; Christos Ntinos; Boris-Alexandre Baudel; Colm Daly

doi:10.5194/epsc-dps2025-874

SEAFARER: Navigating Unknown Seas: An L4-class space mission concept for the exploration of the Saturnian System developed during the ESA 2024 Summer School Alpbach

Fabian Weichbold^*, Diogo Quirino, Agathe BOUIS, Samuele Vaghi, David Placke, Anike Ohm, Julia Wiltenburg, Eléna Sango González, Vincent Affatato, Johanna Buerger, Brent Quanten, Christos Ntinos, Boris-Alexandre Baudel, Colm Daly

^*Corresponding author for this work

Electronic And Electrical Engineering

Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster › peer-review

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Abstract

The golden era of the NASA/ESA/Cassini-Huygens mission to the Saturnian system was marked by notable discoveries, such as Enceladus’s plume and the complexity of Titan’s climate. New scientific questions stem from this initial exploration of the Saturnian system that call for an updated set of instruments capable of addressing them.

During an 11-day work in Summer School Alpbach 2024, a European team of early career scientists and engineers developed an L4 mission concept dedicated to the Habitability of the Saturnian System within the framework of the long-term strategic plan of ESA Voyage 2050. SEAFARER (Surveying Environments Across the Saturnian system For hAbitability ResEaRch) combines a Saturn-Titan orbiter, coupled with an atmospheric probe to Saturn and a Titan sea lander (drifter) to be deployed in Kraken Mare

Original language	English
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-874
Publication status	Published - 7 Oct 2025
Event	Europlanet Science Congress - Division for Planetary Sciences Joint Meeting 2025 - Helsinki, Finland Duration: 7 Sept 2025 → 12 Sept 2025 https://www.epsc-dps2025.eu/

Conference

Conference	Europlanet Science Congress - Division for Planetary Sciences Joint Meeting 2025
Abbreviated title	EPSC-DPS 2025
Country/Territory	Finland
City	Helsinki
Period	7/09/25 → 12/09/25
Internet address	https://www.epsc-dps2025.eu/

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

SDG 13 Climate Action

Keywords

Saturnian System
space mission concepts

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10.5194/epsc-dps2025-874Licence: CC BY 4.0

Weichbold-etal-2025-SEAFARER-Navigating-Unknown-SeasFinal published version, 92.6 KBLicence: CC BY 4.0

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Weichbold, F., Quirino, D., BOUIS, A., Vaghi, S., Placke, D., Ohm, A., Wiltenburg, J., González, E. S., Affatato, V., Buerger, J., Quanten, B., Ntinos, C., Baudel, B.-A., & Daly, C. (2025). SEAFARER: Navigating Unknown Seas: An L4-class space mission concept for the exploration of the Saturnian System developed during the ESA 2024 Summer School Alpbach. Poster session presented at Europlanet Science Congress - Division for Planetary Sciences Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland. https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-874

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title = "SEAFARER: Navigating Unknown Seas: An L4-class space mission concept for the exploration of the Saturnian System developed during the ESA 2024 Summer School Alpbach",

abstract = "The golden era of the NASA/ESA/Cassini-Huygens mission to the Saturnian system was marked by notable discoveries, such as Enceladus{\textquoteright}s plume and the complexity of Titan{\textquoteright}s climate. New scientific questions stem from this initial exploration of the Saturnian system that call for an updated set of instruments capable of addressing them. During an 11-day work in Summer School Alpbach 2024, a European team of early career scientists and engineers developed an L4 mission concept dedicated to the Habitability of the Saturnian System within the framework of the long-term strategic plan of ESA Voyage 2050. SEAFARER (Surveying Environments Across the Saturnian system For hAbitability ResEaRch) combines a Saturn-Titan orbiter, coupled with an atmospheric probe to Saturn and a Titan sea lander (drifter) to be deployed in Kraken Mare",

keywords = "Saturnian System, space mission concepts",

author = "Fabian Weichbold and Diogo Quirino and Agathe BOUIS and Samuele Vaghi and David Placke and Anike Ohm and Julia Wiltenburg and Gonz{\'a}lez, \{El{\'e}na Sango\} and Vincent Affatato and Johanna Buerger and Brent Quanten and Christos Ntinos and Boris-Alexandre Baudel and Colm Daly",

year = "2025",

month = oct,

day = "7",

doi = "10.5194/epsc-dps2025-874",

language = "English",

note = "Europlanet Science Congress - Division for Planetary Sciences Joint Meeting 2025, EPSC-DPS 2025 ; Conference date: 07-09-2025 Through 12-09-2025",

url = "https://www.epsc-dps2025.eu/",

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Weichbold, F, Quirino, D, BOUIS, A, Vaghi, S, Placke, D, Ohm, A, Wiltenburg, J, González, ES, Affatato, V, Buerger, J, Quanten, B, Ntinos, C, Baudel, B-A & Daly, C 2025, 'SEAFARER: Navigating Unknown Seas: An L4-class space mission concept for the exploration of the Saturnian System developed during the ESA 2024 Summer School Alpbach', Europlanet Science Congress - Division for Planetary Sciences Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland, 7/09/25 - 12/09/25. https://doi.org/10.5194/epsc-dps2025-874

SEAFARER: Navigating Unknown Seas: An L4-class space mission concept for the exploration of the Saturnian System developed during the ESA 2024 Summer School Alpbach. / Weichbold, Fabian ; Quirino, Diogo; BOUIS, Agathe et al.
2025. Poster session presented at Europlanet Science Congress - Division for Planetary Sciences Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland.

Research output: Contribution to conference › Poster › peer-review

TY - CONF

T1 - SEAFARER: Navigating Unknown Seas

T2 - Europlanet Science Congress - Division for Planetary Sciences Joint Meeting 2025

AU - Weichbold, Fabian

AU - Quirino, Diogo

AU - BOUIS, Agathe

AU - Vaghi, Samuele

AU - Placke, David

AU - Ohm, Anike

AU - Wiltenburg, Julia

AU - González, Eléna Sango

AU - Affatato, Vincent

AU - Buerger, Johanna

AU - Quanten, Brent

AU - Ntinos, Christos

AU - Baudel, Boris-Alexandre

AU - Daly, Colm

PY - 2025/10/7

Y1 - 2025/10/7

N2 - The golden era of the NASA/ESA/Cassini-Huygens mission to the Saturnian system was marked by notable discoveries, such as Enceladus’s plume and the complexity of Titan’s climate. New scientific questions stem from this initial exploration of the Saturnian system that call for an updated set of instruments capable of addressing them. During an 11-day work in Summer School Alpbach 2024, a European team of early career scientists and engineers developed an L4 mission concept dedicated to the Habitability of the Saturnian System within the framework of the long-term strategic plan of ESA Voyage 2050. SEAFARER (Surveying Environments Across the Saturnian system For hAbitability ResEaRch) combines a Saturn-Titan orbiter, coupled with an atmospheric probe to Saturn and a Titan sea lander (drifter) to be deployed in Kraken Mare

AB - The golden era of the NASA/ESA/Cassini-Huygens mission to the Saturnian system was marked by notable discoveries, such as Enceladus’s plume and the complexity of Titan’s climate. New scientific questions stem from this initial exploration of the Saturnian system that call for an updated set of instruments capable of addressing them. During an 11-day work in Summer School Alpbach 2024, a European team of early career scientists and engineers developed an L4 mission concept dedicated to the Habitability of the Saturnian System within the framework of the long-term strategic plan of ESA Voyage 2050. SEAFARER (Surveying Environments Across the Saturnian system For hAbitability ResEaRch) combines a Saturn-Titan orbiter, coupled with an atmospheric probe to Saturn and a Titan sea lander (drifter) to be deployed in Kraken Mare

KW - Saturnian System

KW - space mission concepts

UR - https://www.epsc-dps2025.eu/home.html

U2 - 10.5194/epsc-dps2025-874

DO - 10.5194/epsc-dps2025-874

M3 - Poster

Y2 - 7 September 2025 through 12 September 2025

ER -

Weichbold F, Quirino D, BOUIS A, Vaghi S, Placke D, Ohm A et al.. SEAFARER: Navigating Unknown Seas: An L4-class space mission concept for the exploration of the Saturnian System developed during the ESA 2024 Summer School Alpbach. 2025. Poster session presented at Europlanet Science Congress - Division for Planetary Sciences Joint Meeting 2025, Helsinki, Finland. doi: 10.5194/epsc-dps2025-874

SEAFARER: Navigating Unknown Seas: An L4-class space mission concept for the exploration of the Saturnian System developed during the ESA 2024 Summer School Alpbach

Abstract

Conference

UN SDGs

Keywords

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