The Cassini Radar Investigation
Conference: EUSAR 2008 - 7th European Conference on Synthetic Aperture Radar
06/02/2008 - 06/05/2008 at Friedrichshafen, Germany
Proceedings: EUSAR 2008
Pages: 4Language: englishTyp: PDF
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Authors:
Wall, Stephen D. (California Institute of Technology, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, USA)
Flamini, Enrico (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Rome, Italy)
Abstract:
The Cassini/Huygens Mission is a nineteen-year multinational project to design, construct and execute an investigation of the Saturn system with emphasis on its largest moon, Titan. Titan’s atmosphere is nearly opaque at optical wavelengths, so a Ku-band radar imaging system was required to map its surface. In this paper we describe the radar instrument, discuss some of the challenges to its design, and review its operating modes. We briefly summarize the major discoveries that the radar instrument has made while investigating Titan.