Space Research Institute Graz
Austrian Academy of Sciences
Cassini/Huygens im Saturnsystem
Helmut O. Rucker
Summer University „Graz in Space“ 2006
Launch Cassini / Huygens Oct.15, 1997
Launch Cassini / Huygens Oct.15, 1997
1.Venus-flyby April 26, 1998
Launch Cassini / Huygens Oct.15, 1997
1.Venus-flyby April 26, 1998
2.Venus-flyby June 24, 1999
Launch Cassini / Huygens Oct.15, 1997
1.Venus-flyby April 26, 1998
2.Venus-flyby June 24, 1999
Earth-flyby Aug. 18, 1999
Launch Cassini / Huygens Oct.15, 1997
1.Venus-flyby April 26, 1998
2.Venus-flyby June 24, 1999
Earth-flyby Aug. 18, 1999
Launch Cassini / Huygens Oct.15, 1997
1.Venus-flyby April 26, 1998
2.Venus-flyby June 24, 1999
Earth-flyby Aug. 18, 1999
Jupiter-flyby Dec. 30, 2000
Launch Cassini / Huygens Oct.15, 1997
1.Venus-flyby April 26, 1998
2.Venus-flyby June 24, 1999
Earth-flyby Aug. 18, 1999
Jupiter-flyby Dec. 30, 2000
Destination after 7 years of cruise phase:
Approach from underneath the Saturn ring plane (Southern hemisphere)
Space Research Institute Graz
Austrian Academy of Sciences
ACP
GCMS
HASI
RPWS experiment
SRI Co-I
SRI Co-Is
Construction and test
of orbiter Cassini
Construction and test
of orbiter Cassini
and landing probe Huygens
Average distance from Sun:
Saturn orbital period:
Saturn rotation period:
1,4 Bill. km (~ 9.5 AU)
29,5 terrestrial years
10,7 hours
„surface“- temperature: ~ -180° C
„spokes“ in the ring system
ring system consisting of rocks, ice
and dust particles
~1
40
,18
~1
0k
1x
m
Ea
r th
Cassini Ring Plane Crossing
120,000 km
Cassini Division 1675
ring thickness ~ 100m
Dec 25, 2004
Jan 14, 2005
Huygens descent and landing
Huygens scientific experiments
in operation, directly radioed
to Cassini orbiter.
Jan 14, 2005
Titan,
the biggest moon of Saturn
(only marginally second to Ganymede,
the biggest moon in the solar system)
1655 discovered by Christiaan Huygens
equatorial radius
distance to Saturn
average density
rotation period
orbital period
2,575 km
~20 Rs
1.88 g/cm^3
15.94542 days
15.94542 days
average surface temperature -178°C
surface atmosphere pressure 1.5 bar
Titan in IR
Christiaan Huygens
350 years between discovery
and landing on a remote world
1.4 Bill. km In distance
Jan 14, 2005
CASSINI imaging from Huygens landing site
Imaging and infrared
Synthetic aperture radar
Orange smog covers Titan`s surface, in thickness ~300 km
Molecule
Symbol
Major Constituents
Amount
Percent
Nitrogen
N2
87-99
Argon
Ar
0-6
Methane
CH4
1-6
Minor Constituents
parts per million
Hydrogen
H2
2000
Hydrocarbons
Ethane
C2H6
20
Acetylene
C2H2
4
Ethylene
C2H4
1
Propane
C3H8
1
Methylacetylene
C3H4
0.03
Diacetylene
C4H2
0.02
Hydrogen Cyanide
HCN
1
Cynaogen
C2N2
0.02
HC3N
0.03
CH3CN
0.003
Nitrogen Compounds
Cyanoacetylene
Acteonitrile
Oxygen Compounds
Carbon Monoxide
Carbon Dioxide
CO
50
CO2
0.01
Titan south polar region.
(Red cross marks pole)
A past or present lake
of liquid hydrocarbons ?
Methane clouds
Cassini Titan flyby June 28, 2005
First impact feature identified in radar images of Titan:
Circus Maximus
km
0
4
4
~
Cassini radar sees sand dunes on Saturn's giant moon Titan (upper photo)
that are sculpted like Namibian sand dunes on Earth (lower photo).
Cassini radar sees sand dunes on Saturn's giant moon Titan (upper photo)
that are sculpted like Namibian sand dunes on Earth (lower photo).
Phoebe
June 11, 2004:
• Flyby at Phoebe (distance 2,000 km)
• Phoebe – Saturn distance 12.952,000 km
• Orbital period: 550.48 days (retrograde)
• Rotation period: 0.4 days
• Diameter ca. 220 km
Iapetus
discovered by Cassini 1671
diameter
1,436 km
Iapetus
Dec 31, 2004
Distance to the moon 172,400 km
Radius versus density
rock-, iron-bodies
(Mercury = own B-field)
rock-, ice-bodies
60% ice
100% ice
Dione, the Divine …
10
log 10
orbital
lifetime
[years]
age of
solar system
1
m
m
1c
1
m
o
r
c
mi
0
1.0
r
2.0
Enceladus
„tiger stripes“ as
characteristic features
Enceladus
C. C. Porco et al., Science 311, 1303 - 1401 (2006)
A schematic (Saturn and Enceladus not to scale) showing the corotating Saturn magnetic field and
plasma being perturbed by the neutral cloud that is produced by a polar plume generated close to the
south pole of Enceladus
M. K. Dougherty et al., Science 311, 1406 -1409 (2006)
Published by AAAS
Courtesy Ingersoll
Courtesy Ingersoll
Lightning phenomena
in the Saturn atmosphere
Dragon storm
UTR-2 Kharkov, Ukraine
World largest radio telescope
in the decameter – wavelength range
Saturn Electrostatic Discharges (SEDs)
20.03 MHz
23.57 MHz
25.42 MHz
5 sec
January 30, 2006:
First detection of
Saturn radio emission
from terrestrial grounds.
Cassini Orbiter:
operationelle Phase bis 2008
voraussichtlich „extended mission“ bis 2010
(mit mehreren Titan und anderen „satellite flybys“)
Weitere Präsentationen u.a. mit Cassini/Huygens:
Roger Karlsson: The Cassini RPWS instrument
Günter Kargl:
Titan
Helmut O. Rucker: Europlanet –
Koordinierte Planetologie in Europa