Passage to a Ringed World - NASA's History Office

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FOREWORD This book is for you. You will find that it lives up to the promise of its cover and title. The text is authoritative, but at the same time easy to understand. It is written for any layperson who is interested in space exploration. In this book, we will give you a good look at what is involved in sending a large spacecraft to the outer solar system. Join us and share in the excitement of this extended voyage of discovery! One of the first things you will learn is that Cassini–Huygens is an international mission. Seventeen countries are involved. You will also learn that Huygens is an atmospheric probe that the Cassini spacecraft will deliver to Titan, the largest moon of Saturn. Titan has a gaseous atmosphere that is thicker and more obscuring than the atmosphere here on Earth. We will look through Titan’s atmosphere with Cassini’s radar and discover surface details for the first time. The mission will find out if there are really liquid hydrocarbons on Titan’s surface in the form of lakes or seas. The Cassini spacecraft itself will spend four years in orbit about Saturn. We will examine the rings and visit many of the satellites. We will sample special locations in the magnetosphere that are believed to harbor interesting — some might say strange — plasma processes (that is, electromagnetic interactions involving electrons, protons and ions). You can see in the table of contents the “menu” we have prepared for you. One chapter explains the mission, another the spacecraft. Other chapters tell you about Saturn, Titan, the rings and the various other parts of the Saturn system. These chapters reflect the facts and theories as we know them today. The chapters were prepared by expert researchers in each of the areas covered. Professional writers then edited the text for clarity and to make sure that you would not be overwhelmed with jargon and technospeak. Working handin-hand with them were graphic designers and illustrators who created the
page layouts and the many informative diagrams. Finally, to assure that the final product was accurate, the book was reviewed by scientists and engineers who work on the Cassini–Huygens mission. Come with us now as we set out on this voyage of exploration. We have over three billion kilometers to go! It will take more than six years to reach Saturn. We will get there on July 1, 2004. By the end of the Cassini–Huygens mission, four years later, we will have completed the most complicated scientific experiment ever performed. We wish you good reading! Richard J. Spehalski Dennis L. Matson Cassini Program Manager Cassini Project Scientist
Page 1: Passage to a Ringed World The Cassi
Page 4 and 5: On the Cover: A collage of images s
Page 8 and 9: ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This book would not
Page 10 and 11: Three separate images, taken by Voy
Page 12 and 13: descent to the surface. The Huygens
Page 14 and 15: address the challenges of the missi
Page 16 and 17: Participant Nations* * First flag i
Page 18 and 19: PROBING A MOON OF MYSTERY Huygens
Page 20 and 21: TOUR T18-3 TARGETED SATELLITE FLYBY
Page 22 and 23: SATURN CASSINI-HUYGENS MISSION SCIE
Page 24 and 25: Cassini-Huygens designed to determi
Page 26 and 27: In this diagram from his book, Syst
Page 28 and 29: This Voyager 1 image shows Saturn
Page 30 and 31: An Extended Atmosphere From Liquid
Page 32 and 33: Haze layers are also observed above
Page 34 and 35: IN THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER Taken fr
Page 36 and 37: This spectacular view of the edge o
Page 38 and 39: the interaction was described as a
Page 40 and 41: have a signature of a tone decreasi
Page 42 and 43: CONSTITUENTS OF THE TITAN ATMOSPHER
Page 44 and 45: The processes of plate tectonics an
Page 46 and 47: tan was accreting, it is possible t
Page 48 and 49: Surface Science. The highest resolu
Page 50 and 51: This enhanced Voyager 2 image shows
Page 52 and 53: Voyager 1 captured this striking im
Page 54 and 55: Prometheus and Pandora, two tiny sa
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In the stellar occultation experime
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scattering than are larger particle
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In fact, Saturn’s rings — as we
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The satellites of Saturn comprise a
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Before the advent of spacecraft exp
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The bright surface of Saturn’s mo
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Galilean satellites. Most of what i
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duced that one hemisphere is compos
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patches on the surface. Although it
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Artist’s conception of Ithaca Cha
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An artist’s rendition of Saturn
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The MAPS Instruments Coordinated ob
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field reverses direction across the
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SATURN’S MAGNETIC FIELD Saturn’
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Solar Wind Magnetosheath Titan neut
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per atmosphere. Energetic particles
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and plasma wave emissions from narr
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CHAPTER 7 Space mission design aims
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(SOI) propulsive maneuver to initia
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the tour cannot continue. Of course
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crease inclination to this value. T
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This illustration shows the main de
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discussed earlier) and data handlin
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of the spacecraft! Below the oxidiz
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• Opening or shutting thermal lou
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management subsystem and the Probe
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falls below its storage temperature
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The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft stan
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The Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS)
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• Map the composition and thermal
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cise distance between the surface f
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• Study the interaction of the ma
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• Study the erosional and electro
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midway out on the magnetometer boom
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The RPWS instrument will be used to
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altitudes down to 40 kilometers abo
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dex. A group of platinum resistance
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CHAPTER 10 Mission operations are t
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PLANETARY MISSION OPERATIONS Functi
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two low-gain antennas 1 and will pr
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During much of Cassini’s orbital
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articulation control subsystem’s
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AFTERWORD It has been said that in
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Developments tied to the Cassini-Hu
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APPENDIX A Command. A data transact
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APPENDIX A 138 PASSAGE TO A RINGED
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APPENDIX A Plasma wave. A wave char
Page 150 and 151:
APPENDIX A 142 PASSAGE TO A RINGED
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APPENDIX B H O 2 + Water molecule w
Page 154 and 155:
APPENDIX C 146 PASSAGE TO A RINGED
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APPENDIX D 148 PASSAGE TO A RINGED
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APPENDIX D 150 PASSAGE TO A RINGED
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APPENDIX F 152 PASSAGE TO A RINGED
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APPENDIX F 154 PASSAGE TO A RINGED
Page 164 and 165:
APPENDIX F Peralta, F. and S. Flana
Page 168:
National Aeronautics and Space Admi
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