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Cassini Radio Science Experiments on Saturn and Titan Preserved Because of Lewis AnalysisThe Cassini mission to Saturn is an international venture with participation from NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. The Cassini spacecraft was launched from Cape Canaveral in October 1997 and is scheduled to arrive at Saturn in July 2004. After arrival, the spacecraft will orbit Saturn about 60 times over a period of 4 years. During this time, the Cassini Radio Science Subsystem will be used to investigate the atmosphere and rings of Saturn and the atmosphere of its largest moon, Titan--which is larger than Mercury and is the only moon in our solar system with a dense atmosphere. A critical component in Cassini s Radio Science Subsystem is a traveling-wave tube (TWT) that was designed at the NASA Lewis Research Center and built by Hughes Electronic Dynamics Division (ref. 1). This TWT will amplify downlink microwave signals at a frequency of 32 GHz for the Deep Space Network and will be involved in a number of experiments. These include occultation experiments in which the microwave signal will be beamed through rings and atmospheres toward Earth. Researchers will analyze the received signals to determine the sizes and distributions of the particles in the rings and the structure and composition of the atmospheres. The Radio Science Subsystem also will also be used to more accurately determine the mass and size of Saturn and its moons, to investigate the solar corona, and to search for gravity waves from outside the solar system.
Document ID
20050188503
Acquisition Source
Legacy CDMS
Document Type
Other
Authors
Wilson, Jeffrey D.
(NASA Lewis Research Center Cleveland, OH, United States)
Date Acquired
August 23, 2013
Publication Date
April 1, 1999
Publication Information
Publication: Research and Technology 1998
Subject Category
Astronomy
Distribution Limits
Public
Copyright
Work of the US Gov. Public Use Permitted.
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