Titan as Revealed by the Cassini Radar
Name
11214_2019_598_ReferencePDF.pdf
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36.01 MB
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Checksum (MD5)
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Author(s)
Lopes, R. M C
Wall, S. D
Elachi, C.
Birch, S. P D
Corlies, P.
Coustenis, A.
Hayes, A. G
Hofgartner, J. D
Janssen, M. A
Kirk, R. L
Date Issued
May 21, 2019
Publisher
Springer Netherlands
Citation
Space Science Reviews. 2019 May 21;215(4):33
Version
Author's final manuscript
Abstract
Abstract
Titan was a mostly unknown world prior to the Cassini spacecraft’s arrival in July 2004. We review the major scientific advances made by Cassini’s Titan Radar Mapper (RADAR) during 13 years of Cassini’s exploration of Saturn and its moons. RADAR measurements revealed Titan’s surface geology, observed lakes and seas of mostly liquid methane in the polar regions, measured the depth of several lakes and seas, detected temporal changes on its surface, and provided key evidence that Titan contains an interior ocean. As a result of the Cassini mission, Titan has gone from an uncharted world to one that exhibits a variety of Earth-like geologic processes and surface-atmosphere interactions. Titan has also joined the ranks of “ocean worlds” along with Enceladus and Europa, which are prime targets for astrobiological research.
MIT Department
Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Department of Earth, Atmospheric, and Planetary Sciences
Terms of Use
Article is made available in accordance with the publisher's policy and may be subject to US copyright law. Please refer to the publisher's site for terms of use.
Persistent DSpace Link
DOI of Published Version
https://doi.org/10.1007/s11214-019-0598-6
