Cassini-Huygens

The most recent results from the successful Cassini-Huygens mission will be discussed in Sect. 11.1.1.3. 

Finally, and tantalizingly for this book and astrochemistry, there is Titan. The Cassini-Huygens mission is now in orbit in the Saturnian system as the book is published. The Huygens probe has already made the descent to the surface of Titan and the data have been transmitted back successfully. Scientists, astronomers, astrochemists and astribiologists are trying to understand it. I have taken a brief look at Titan as a case study to apply all that has been learnt and to review the possibilities for astrochemistry in what is surely to be a very exciting revelation of the structure and chemistry of Titan. 

The discovery of evidence of liquid water-ammonia eutectics on Titan provides a context for the potential for polar fluids outside what is normally regarded as the habitable zone. The stay of the Cassini-Huygens mission on the surface of Titan was brief, but this moon of Saturn is the locale that is most likely to support exotic life. The committee believes that it is important to consider whether the planned missions to the solar system should be reordered to permit returning to Titan earlier than now scheduled. 

This survey of the current state of knowledge of satellite geochemistry also uncovers the many areas where there are unsolved problems and major issues still to be addressed by future observations and theoretical work. On the observational side, most of the chemical information we now have for objects beyond the Galilean satellites comes from bulk density and global telescopic spectral data. The Cassini/Huygens mission, which arrives at Saturn in July of 2004, will allow more detailed study of all the satellites of this major system. In particular. Titan is now known primarily through detailed study of its upper atmosphere from Voyager and Earth-based... 

Another major issue is the composition and nature of the dark non-ice material mixed in various quantities on the satellites. Galileo data has provided some clues for the Jupiter system and Cassini will do a similar job for Samrn. More powerful spectral techniques and in situ analyses (and possibly sample return) will be required for a full characterization and identification of what are believed to be mixtures of complex hydrocarbons and organic material. For Titan, missions that explore both the atmosphere and the surface are being studied as follow-on exploration after Cassini/Huygens. 

On its way to Saturn, Cassini-Huygens passed by the asteroid Masursky (on January 23, 2000) and Jupiter (December 30, 2000). In early June it passed near one of Saturn s outermost moons, Phoebe, and there took photographs and collected data that promise to reveal important new details about that moon s origin. The spacecraft arrived in the Saturnian atmosphere exactly on schedule, on June 30, and sent back some of the most astonishing astronomical photographs of any solar system object ever collected. The Huygens probe... 

Source Linda J. Spilker, ed. Passage to a Ringed World The Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan. NASA Special Publication SP-533. Washington, D.C. National Aeronautics and Space Administration, October 1997, Chapter 3. 

Another occasional use of hydrogen during space missions is as a reference gas with specific scientific instruments. One example of this application involves the Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn and its moon Titan that was launched in October 1997 and arrived at its destination during the summer of 2004 [106]. 

Cassini-Huygens Mission to Saturn Titan Homepage, http //saturn.jpl. nasa.gov/index.cfm, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena California. 

In lune 2004, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft began orbiting Saturn and transmitting images to Earth. The closest distance between Saturn and Earth is 746 million miles. What is the minimum amormt of time it takes for the transmitted signals to travel from the spacecraft to Earth ... 

Mitchell, R.T., 2005. Cassini/Huygens at Saturn and Titan. In 56th International Astronautical Congress of the International Astronautical Federation, the International Academy of Astronautics, and the International Institute of Space Law. 

Standley, S.P., 2006. Cassini-Huygens engineering operations at Saturn. In AlAA-2006-5516, Space Ops Conference. 

Vandermey, N., Paczkowski, B.G., 2006. The Cassini-Huygens mission overview. In AIAA-2006-5502, SpaceOps Conference. 

Rodrigue, C. M. (1999). Social Construction Of Technological Hazard Plutonium On Board The Cassini-Huygens Spacecraft (narrative for a proposal resubmitted to the Decision, Risk, and Management Science Program. National Science Foundation. January 14-... 

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