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Cassini Mission

Telephone Conference with Dr. Stephen Gillam of JPL!

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Does Titan Have the Recipe for the Primordial Soup?

Steve Gillam

Cassini Navigation Team Jet Propulsion Laboratory

California Institute of Technology

Thanks to the Cassini Titan Observations Science Team and the the Cassini Outreach Office for the materials presented in this telecon.

INTRODUCTION• Titan is the largest of Saturn's moons, and is the second largest moon in

the solar system. Titan is a complex world more similar to a terrestrial planet than a typical outer planet moon.– Titan's orbit carries it in and out of Saturn's magnetosphere– Its surface is hidden by a thick nitrogen-rich atmosphere– Methane in the atmosphere participates in sunshine-driven

chemistry which has produced a photochemical smog– Titan's hidden surface may have exotic features: mountains

sculpted by hydrocarbon rain, rivers, lakes and "waterfalls" of flammable liquids

– Water and ammonia magma may occasionally erupt, spreading across the surface, creating exotic landscapes

Huygens Probe Descent

Titan Observations- through time

Mimas Iapetus PhoebeHyperionTitanEnceladus Tethys Dione Rhea

Titan Science Summary

• 46 Titan flybys– Scattered throughout the tour but 2006 and 2007 are the heaviest– T0 July 1 2004 (350,000 km) flyby – happened hours after SOI– TA Oct of 2004 - first RADAR SAR image– TB Dec of 2004 - ORS flyby– Huygens mission Jan 2005

• Mainly ORS observations during the inbound and outbound flyby periods – Closest approach RADAR observations of the surface,– ORS observations of the surface, limb, or upper atmosphere, – Radio Science occultations,– INMS in-situ observations of the atmosphere.

• 4 broad science themes:– Interior Structure – Surface Characterization – Atmospheric Properties – Magnetospheric Interactions

Titan's Cloud Systems

Titan Haze

Visual an IR Mapping Spectrometer Images of Titans Surface

False color image of Titan (right) made up of the red, blue and green images (left). White is methane, green is ice and yellow is hydrocarbons.(Pictures and explanation from the European Space Agency website)

Hubble Brightness Map of TitanMap of surface brightness variations on Titan as measured in images taken by NASA/ESA’s Hubble Space Telescope. The colours indicate different surface reflectivities. Deep blue (darkest), deep red (brightest).

(From European Space Agency website)

SUMMARYTHE EXPLORATION OF TITAN IS AT THE VERY HEART OF

THE CASSINI / HUYGENS PLANETARY MISSION.

TITAN IS THE SOLE FOCUS OF THE HUYGENS PROBE AND ONE OF THE MAIN TARGETS OF THE CASSINI ORBITER.

By combining the results from the Cassini mission with Earth-based astronomical observations, laboratory experiments and computer

modeling, scientists hope to answer basic questions regarding the origin and evolution of Titan's atmosphere, the nature of the surface, and the

structure of its interior.

For more information about the Cassini Huygens missionhttp://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

http://www.esa.int/esaCPhttp://www.esa.int/SPECIALS/Cassini-Huygens/SEM5A6HHZTD_0.html