Title :
Cassini Radar: Expectations and results after three years of operations
Author :
Flamini, Enrico ; Wall, Stephen ; Johnson, William T K
Author_Institution :
Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, Rome
Abstract :
The Cassini Titan Radar Mapper is one of the twelve instruments on board the Cassini spacecraft. The main goal of the radar is to map the surface of the larger of the Saturnian satellite, Titan, not excluding observation of the other icy satellites. The Cassini RADARr is a multimode instrument capable of providing not only images, when used in the SAR mode, but also the topography of the surface when operating in altimetry mode as well the scattering and radiometric properties. The radar provided the first valuable scientific data during the Jupiter fly-by operating in the radiometer mode, while the first real echo was received from Earth during Cassinipsilas Earth flyby in 1999.
Keywords :
electromagnetic wave scattering; radar altimetry; radar cross-sections; radar imaging; spaceborne radar; synthetic aperture radar; Cassini Titan Radar Mapper; Cassini spacecraft; SAR imaging; Saturnian satellite; altimetry mode; multimode instrument; radar echo; radiometric property; scattering property; surface topography; Altimetry; Earth; Instruments; Radar imaging; Radar scattering; Radiometry; Satellite broadcasting; Space vehicles; Spaceborne radar; Surface topography; Radar; Surface; Titan;
Conference_Titel :
Radar Conference, 2008. RADAR '08. IEEE
Conference_Location :
Rome
Print_ISBN :
978-1-4244-1538-0
Electronic_ISBN :
1097-5659
DOI :
10.1109/RADAR.2008.4721076