Titan flyby next week!

[Cham]

Yes, but to me, it could also be a huge load of vomit from the Petit Prince.

[Evil Dr Ganymede]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/3963321.stm

Seems the science teams think the darker areas in the radar image could be liquid. It's still uncertain though... it sounds like there may be VIMS coverage of this region yet to be released.

[Evil Dr Ganymede]

Here's another radar image...
http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06988

[Cham]

That's what I tought, the Petit Prince isn't far.

[chris]

Wow. I've a feeling that Titan will prove to have the most complex surface of any body in the solar system other than Earth. I wonder what the dominant processes are . . . Aeolian? Volcanic? Glacial? Whatever the methane/ethane analog of hydrologic would be called?

--Chris

[Evil Dr Ganymede]

Pretty cool, huh? Those radar images remind me a lot of Venus, but that could be because of the medium of the image .

I should make it clear that everything I've said about Titan so far is a guess (albeit an educated one). I think at this stage a lot of planetary scientists don't have much of a clue what they're looking at in these and the other Titan images. It'll take a while to pull everything together, but we'll need imaging, spectrometer images, and radar together to figure it all out.

Remember this well, folks. This is the last great frontier of the solar system, apart from Pluto. You're seeing history in the making here, and even by wondering out loud here you can be part of the puzzle-solving process in some way.

This definitely puts the "sensawunda" back into things, anyway . And this is only the beginning...

[t00fri]

Pffff...



Bye Fridger

[HankR]

Remember this well, folks. This is the last great frontier of the solar system, apart from Pluto. You're seeing history in the making here, and even by wondering out loud here you can be part of the puzzle-solving process in some way.

This definitely puts the "sensawunda" back into things, anyway . And this is only the beginning...

Absolutely right. If all goes well, Titan will be revealed bit by bit over the next several years in a series of Cassini flybys, along with Iapetus, Enceladus, Tethys, etc. ... not to mention the rings and atmosphere of Saturn itself. And don't forget that the Huygens probe will be descending into the atmosphere of Titan early next year, returning a series of images all the way down to the surface. How cool will that be? And meanwhile, back on Mars... Truly this is a second golden age of planetary exploration.

- Hank

[Dollan]

Okay, some of the features in that last radar image look like flow patterns.... wow.


BTW, considering all of the fly-byes scheduled for the future, what kind of global coverage is expected when all is said and done? 100%? 80%?

...John...

[maxim]

Truly this is a second golden age of planetary exploration.

Oh! Was there a first one already?

maxim

[Matt McIrvin]

It sounds as if we'll have to wait for future encounters to have radar images that overlap with high-resolution infrared images for context.

Which I should have expected. Cassini has no articulated scan platform; the whole craft has to turn to point its instruments, so it can't use the big dish for radar mapping at the same time as it takes pictures with VIMS or ISS. Fortunately there's less time to wait for the next flyby than there was for this one!

Meanwhile, it sounds as if the direct sampling of atmospheric gases found pretty much what was expected: lots of nitrogen and methane, some simple hydrocarbons, including diacetylene and benzene.

[Evil Dr Ganymede]

Truly this is a second golden age of planetary exploration.

Oh! Was there a first one already?

Arguably, yes.

Pioneer, Voyager, Venera, Viking, Mariner 9 and 10, and all the moon stuff would be the first "golden age" - basically everything before 1990. They'd be the ones that gave us our first pictures of those other worlds

Then Magellan, Clementine, MGS, Pathfinder, Spirit/Opportunity, Galileo, and Cassini (and all the others that worked since 1990) would be the "second golden age". They're the ones that are greatly expanding on what the first missions showed us.

As for Titan coverage... I don't think all of it will be covered by radar, it's all in swathes depending on how Cassini is flying past. I think we'll get at least 50% though. They'll probably use VIMS to image the rest.

[maxim]

Ok. Maybe I'm way too pretentious - I regarded these early 20th century missions as 'first cautious clumsy steps' rather than a golden age. And I had the impression that the latest mars missions and the cassini mission now let us see a thin yellow glimmering shine at the horizont.

I'm aware of the HUGE amount of work and effort behind these missions of course. But having a look at the reasons for mission failures, I see these are no unpredictible situations or unknown conditions. It's rather things like bad computer memory management (MER), major design holes caused by insufficient budgeds (BEAGLE), or simply assembly errors caused by bad design planning (GENESIS). All these things are caused IMHO by earthbound thinking, that is still anchored in minds. A unconscious feeling that there is room for further access, and things can be repaired. The golden age maybe start as soon as there is a change of paradigms in the mind of the public. The recently announced decision to implement and test some AI features like strategy planning and self repair for future probes is certainly a good step. And as soon as there are serious plans for granting every planet and every moon it's own durable satellite probe, the first real golden age of planetary exploration will definitely rise.

As I said - maybe I'm way too pretentious - so I will shut up now

maxim

[Ynjevi]

BTW, considering all of the fly-byes scheduled for the future, what kind of global coverage is expected when all is said and done? 100%? 80%?

Something like 25% of Titan's surface should be radar mapped at the end of the primary mission.

[Ynjevi]

Pioneer, Voyager, Venera, Viking, Mariner 9 and 10, and all the moon stuff would be the first "golden age" - basically everything before 1990. They'd be the ones that gave us our first pictures of those other worlds.

I would hardly include 80's as part of the golden age, although the Voyager probes did some outstanding discoveries -- after all they were launched in the 70's. Was there any other US planetary probe launched in '80's besides Galileo and Magellan?

[Evil Dr Ganymede]

Pioneer, Voyager, Venera, Viking, Mariner 9 and 10, and all the moon stuff would be the first "golden age" - basically everything before 1990. They'd be the ones that gave us our first pictures of those other worlds.

I would hardly include 80's as part of the golden age, although the Voyager probes did some outstanding discoveries -- after all they were launched in the 70's. Was there any other US planetary probe launched in '80's besides Galileo and Magellan?

Voyager was a golden age in itself.

Some of the Veneras were launched in the early 80s, but they were Soviet (and told us a lot about Venus' surface).

Besides, the 80s were the low point when it came to launches - it really separates the "golden ages".

And maxim - yes, you really are underestimating the work that goes into a mission, and just what those 70s missions did for our understanding of the solar system (But back then, missions got a decent amount of funding).

Plus I think you underestimate the effect it had on people. I saw the first Voyager images of Io from Jupiter when I was about 6 years old, and I was instantly hooked. I'm sure many of my generation of planetary scientists got interested in space because of that. Hopefully the new missions are getting the attention of other potential planetary scientists.

Yes, these are still the first steps into space, but they're the most important ones.

[Hoover]

And as soon as there are serious plans for granting every planet and every moon it's own durable satellite probe...

I was in the midst of a comment about wishing they had sent and extra satellite for permanent Titan orbit in an earlier post. Now that you mention it, though, I thought I would. However, I realize we are lucky to be getting what we are getting.

I also had the loony idea of the Huygens having been redesigned as a glider. It would carry an oxygen tank. The titan atmosphere would serve as the propellent. It would just glide and glide, and every once in a while get a boost. But there is something unholy about the idea of creating contrails on Titan. So lets not do that right now.

I also am a bit disappointed at getting a partial radar map of the surface. I hate looking at partial globe renditions. But let us pause and be thankful for it anyway. We better be thankful for this because it will likely be a long time before we ever go to Saturn again.

[maxim]

And maxim - yes, you really are underestimating the work that goes into a mission, and just what those 70s missions did for our understanding of the solar system (But back then, missions got a decent amount of funding).

Well, perhaps I do.
No doubt about the fundamendal knowledge these missions gave to us, and also no doubt about the very importance of these steps. But to call it a 'golden age'? Perhaps I only took this term too serious.

maxim

[ArneB]

ESA has a cool contest:

http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMZDG0A90E_index_0.html

[symaski62]

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/catalog/PIA06991


85 km