Paper No. 146-16
Presentation Time: 5:15 PM
THIRTEEN YEARS OF CASSINI RADAR OBSERVATIONS OF SATURN’S MOON TITAN, AND ONE LAST HURRAH!
MITCHELL, Karl L.1, MASTROGIUSEPPE, Marco2, HAYES, Alexander G.3, HOFGARTNER, Jason1, LORENZ, Ralph4, LE GALL, Alice5, JANSSEN, Michael1, LOPES, Rosaly6, RADEBAUGH, Jani7 and LUNINE, Jonathan8, (1)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Mail Stop 183-601, 4800 Oak Grove Dr, Pasadena, CA 91109, (2)Univ. Roma “La Sapienza”, Via Eudossiana 18, Roma, 00185, Italy, (3)Astronomy, Cornell University, 412 Space Science Building, Ithaca, NY 14853-6801, (4)Applied Physics Lab, Johns Hopkins University, Laurel, MD 20723, (5)Laboratoire Atmospheres, Milieux, Observations Spatiales (LATMOS), Universite Versailles Saint-Quentim (UVSQ), 11 bd d'Alembert, Guyancourt, 78 280, France, (6)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, (7)Department of Geological Sciences, Brigham Young University, Provo, UT 84602, (8)Astronomy, Cornell University, 402 Space Sciences Building, Ithaca, NY 14853, Karl.L.Mitchell@jpl.nasa.gov
Cassini’s epic tour of scientific discovery ends on September 15
th, 2017, with a Grand Finale final plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere. One of the most remarkable discoveries has been the diversity of features and processes on Saturn’s tantalizingly Earth-like moon, Titan, revealed through 127 close-flybys over 13 years. Many discoveries have been made possible by Cassini’s RADAR instrument, which can peer through Titan's thick obfuscating atmosphere to map the surface in a number of different configurations, including Synthetic Aperture Radar (SAR), Scatterometry, Radiometry and Altimetry. These include the first active extraterrestrial rivers, lakes and seas, as well as massive dunes of organic solids, and compelling analogs to terrestrial karstic landforms.
Cassini 127th and final close-range flyby included some of most ambitious Cassini RADAR observations of Titan yet. Close to the northern summer solstice, this observation sequence offered the one of the best opportunities yet to search for seasonal change on Titan’s surface, including its lakes and seas. We report on the initial results from this flyby, including: (i) monitoring of seasonal variations of the subsurface temperature, using Radiometry; (ii) re-imaging of multiple targets with SAR, including the elusive “Magic Island” in Ligeia Mare, in order to find evidence of surface or hydrological change; (iii) efforts to observe scattering changes due to more pronounced waves anticipated on Ligeia Mare; and (iv) an ambitious attempt to perform Altimetry over a series of small lakes, intended to provide critical constraints for north polar hydrological models, lake bathymetry, and dielectric properties to determine their chemical contrast and hydrological relationship with the larger seas.
We would like to acknowledge the entire Cassini RADAR Team, all of whom contributed in some way to the work described. This research was carried at out the California Institute of Technology Jet Propulsion Laboratory under a contract with NASA.
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