HR: 1340h
AN: P53A-1440    [Abstracts]
TI: Titan's Surface Seen by VIMS/Cassini
AU: * Sotin, C
EM: sotin@chimie.univ-nantes.fr
AF: Laboratoire de Planetologie et Geodynamique, Universite de Nantes, Nantes, 44322 France
AU: Buratti, B J
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 183-801, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Griffith, C A
AF: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0092 United States
AU: Brown, R H
AF: Lunar and Planetary Laboratory, University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ 85721-0092 United States
AU: Baines, K H
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 183-801, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Belluci, G
AF: Instituto Fisica Spazio Interplanetario, CNR, Rome, 00133 Italy
AU: Bibring, J
AF: Institut Astrophysique Spatiale, Universite de Paris-Sud, Orsay, 91405 France
AU: Bussoletti, E
AF: INAF, Observatorio Astronomico di Capodimonte, Napoli, 80133 Italy
AU: Capaccioni, F
AF: Instituto Fisica Spazio Interplanetario, CNR, Rome, 00133 Italy
AU: Cerroni, P
AF: Instituto Fisica Spazio Interplanetario, CNR, Rome, 00133 Italy
AU: Clark, R
AF: USGS, Box 25046, Denver, CO 80205 United States
AU: Coradini, A
AF: Instituto Fisica Spazio Interplanetario, CNR, Rome, 00133 Italy
AU: Cruikshank, D P
AF: NASA Ames Research Center, Mail Stop 245-6, Moffet Field, CA 94035-1000 United States
AU: Drossart, P
AF: Observatoire de Paris, place Jules Jannsen, Meudon, 92195 France
AU: Formisano, V
AF: Instituto Fisica Spazio Interplanetario, CNR, Rome, 00133 Italy
AU: Jaumann, R
AF: Institute for Planetary Exploration, DLR, Berlin, 12489 Germany
AU: McCord, T B
AF: Planetary Science Institute, Box 667, Winthrop, WA 98862-0667 United States
AU: Langevin, Y
AF: Institut Astrophysique Spatiale, Universite de Paris-Sud, Orsay, 91405 France
AU: Matson, D L
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 183-801, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Nelson, R M
AF: Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Mail Stop 183-801, Pasadena, CA 91109 United States
AU: Nicholson, P D
AF: Cornell University, Space Science Building, Ithaca, NY 14843 United States
AU: Sicardy, B
AF: Observatoire de Paris, place Jules Jannsen, Meudon, 92195 France
AB: On October 26th 2004, the Cassini spacecraft will fly over Titan at a distance of 1000 km at closest approach. The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) will observe Titan during more than 20 hours. More than 100 hyperspectral images should be recorded with spatial resolution ranging from 100 km to 1 km at closest approach. The images will include views of the Huygens landing site (10S, 190W) with a spatial resolution of 20 km and it should provide a context map for the probe that will land there in January 2005. During Saturn Orbit Insertion, the first observations of Titan by VIMS prove how well this instrument can see Titan's surface in several infrared windows at 1.3, 1.6, 2, and 5 æm. These observations should allow us to map tectonic features and morphological features such as impact craters. Titan's large eccentricity (0.03) may be responsible for the presence of large cracks at its surface as is the case for Europa. It will be possible to compare Titan's surface with that of other large satellites Ganymede, Callisto, and Europa. A major issue concerns the source of methane in Titan's atmosphere : oceans, subsurface reservoirs or cryo-volcanism. The data should allow us to determine whether an ocean is present at Titan's surface. Moreover, analyses of these data should help us determine the surface composition and its variations with latitude and longitude.
DE: 5464 Remote sensing
DE: 5470 Surface materials and properties
DE: 5764 Surfaces
DE: 6280 Saturnian satellites
SC: Planetary Sciences [P]
MN: 2004 AGU Fall Meeting