Saturn

Saturn

Discoveries

History

Previous Missions

Table of Contents

Cassini's Systems

• Pioneer 11
• Launch Date: 4/6/1973
• Arrival Date: 9/1/1979
• Type: Flyby
• Voyager 1
• Launch Date: 9/5/1977
• Aririval Date: 11/13/1980
• Type: Flyby
• Voyager 2
• Launch Date: 8/20/1977
• Arrival Date: 8/26/1981
• Type: Flyby

• Before Cassini mission, only brief glimpses of Saturn’s magnetosphere.
• Cassini is revealing confirmation of earlier magnetosphere measurements (made by Pioneer/Voyager), and revealing differences.
• Saturn’s magnetic axis is exactly aligned to its rotation axis
• Of particular interest because no other planet is like that
• Magnetospheric Oxygen
• Cassini’s UVIS (Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph) detected massive buildup of neutral atomic oxygen.
• Dissipated as quickly as appeared
• New Radiation Belt
• Using MIMI (Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument) showed existence of a radiation belt inside Saturn’s innermost ring
• Similar to Earth’s Van Allen belt
• Ring Atmosphere and Ionosphere
• Cassini INMS (Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer) and CAPS (Cassini Plasma Spectrometer) discovered a previously undetected Ionosphere and Atmosphere associated with Saturn’s rings.
• Dust Environment
• Made by Cassini CDA (Cosmic Dust Analyzer)

Cassini & Huygens

• Dimensions: 6.7 Meters (22 ft.) high, 4 (13.1 ft.) Meters wide
• Communications
• Atenna Subsystem (ATM)
• Power
• Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generator (RTG)
• Attitude Control
• Propulsion Module Subsystem
• Attitude Articulation Control Subsystem (AACS)
• Imagery
• Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS)
• Radar
• Instruments
• Particle Detector
• Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument (MIMI)
• What did we gain from Huygens?

• Named after Roman God of Harvest, Saturnus
• Galileo (1610)
• Christian Huygens (1659)
• Jean-Domanique Cassini founded "Cassini Division"
• Founded 4+ Moons: Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys, Dione
• No great discoveries until 1970's/1980's
• Pioneer 11 (1979)
• Voyager 1 (1980), Voyager 2 (1981)

Introduction

History

Discoveries

Saturn has 60 moons as of July, 2007

• NASA Cassini Spacecraft (2004)
• Farthest planet visable to the human eye
• Large enough to hold 760 Earths
• 95x Earth's mass
• Root of English word "Saturday"

• Cassini
• Launched by: USA, ESA (European Space Agency), Italy
• Launch Date: 10/13/1997
• Arrival Date: 7/1/2004
• Type: Orbiter/Atmospheric probe
• Huygens
• Space Probe
• Landed: 1/14/2005
• Facts

• Saturn and it's Moons
• Why do we care?
• Motivation, Purpose, Impact, Importance, Relevancy
• Possibility of life on Moons
• Previous Missions
• Voyager 1&2
• Pioneer 11
• Huygens
• Cassini
• How has/will Saturn benefit us?
• Summary
• Future Missions
• Discovery Program
• ESA Tandem Mission
• Analysis
• Questions?
• References

Future Missions

References

Anaylsis

• NASA/ESA annouced in 2009 new missions to Jupiter and Saturn as well as their moons.
• Consist of multiple NASA and ESA spacecraft
• Atlas 5 rockets
• Dubbed "Titan Saturn System Mission"
• Flagship flight includes NASA-built orbiter to study Saturn and Moons
• Take 10 1/2 years to reach Saturn, 1 1/2 years in orbit around Titan
• Cassini spacecraft extended to 2017