The Cassini Titan Radar Mapper imaged about 1% of Titan's surface at a resolution of approximately 0.5 kilometer, and larger areas of the globe in lower resolution modes. The images reveal a complex surface, with areas of low relief and a variety of geologic features suggestive of dome-like volcanic constructs, flows, and sinuous channels. The surface appears to be young, with few impact craters. Scattering and dielectric properties are consistent with porous ice or organics. Dark patches in the radar images show high brightness temperatures and high emissivity and are consistent with frozen hydrocarbons.
Download full-text PDF |
Source |
|---|---|
| http://dx.doi.org/10.1126/science.1109919 | DOI Listing |
Publication Analysis
Top Keywords
Similar Publications
Surface properties of the seas of Titan as revealed by Cassini mission bistatic radar experiments.
Nat Commun
July 2024
Università di Bologna, Dipartimento di Ingegneria Industriale, Forlì, Italy.
Saturn's moon Titan was explored by the Cassini spacecraft from 2004 to 2017. While Cassini revealed a lot about this Earth-like world, its radar observations could only provide limited information about Titan's liquid hydrocarbons seas Kraken, Ligeia and Punga Mare. Here, we show the results of the analysis of the Cassini mission bistatic radar experiments data of Titan's polar seas.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe root of anomalously specular reflections from solid surfaces on Saturn's moon Titan.
Nat Commun
June 2020
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, USA.
Saturn's moon Titan has a methane cycle with clouds, rain, rivers, lakes, and seas; it is the only world known to presently have a volatile cycle akin to Earth's tropospheric water cycle. Anomalously specular radar reflections (ASRR) from Titan's tropical region were observed with the Arecibo Observatory (AO) and Green Bank Telescope (GBT) and interpreted as evidence for liquid surfaces. The Cassini spacecraft discovered lakes/seas on Titan, however, it did not observe lakes/seas at the AO/GBT anomalously specular locations.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFA Global Geomorphologic Map of Saturn's Moon Titan.
Nat Astron
March 2020
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, 4800 Oak Grove Drive, Pasadena, CA 91109, USA.
Titan has an active methane-based hydrologic cycle that has shaped a complex geologic landscape, making its surface one of most geologically diverse in the solar system. Despite the different materials, temperatures, and gravity fields between Earth and Titan, many surface features are similar between the two worlds and can be interpreted as products of the same geologic processes. However, Titan's thick and hazy atmosphere has hindered the identification of geologic features at visible wavelengths and the study of surface composition.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFApproximate Optimal Deployment of Barrier Coverage on Heterogeneous Bistatic Radar Sensors.
Sensors (Basel)
May 2019
Department of Computer Science, RMIT University, Melbourne 3001, Australia.
Heterogeneous Bistatic Radars (BR) have different sensing ranges and couplings of sensing regions, which provide more flexible coverage for the boundary at complex terrain such as across rivers and valleys. Due to the Cassini oval sensing region of a BR and the coupling of sensing regions among different BRs, the coverage problem of BR sensor networks is very challenging. Existing works in BR barrier coverage focus mainly on homogeneous BR sensor networks.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFMinimum Cost Deployment of Bistatic Radar Sensor for Perimeter Barrier Coverage.
Sensors (Basel)
January 2019
Department of Computer Science, RMIT University, Melbourne, VIC 3001, Australia.
Perimeter barriers can provide intrusion detection for a closed area. It is efficient for practical applications, such as coastal shoreline monitoring and international boundary surveillance. Perimeter barrier coverage construction in some regions of interest with irregular boundaries can be represented by its minimum circumcircle and every point on the perimeter can be covered.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFWant AI Summaries of new PubMed Abstracts delivered to your In-box?
Enter search terms and have AI summaries delivered each week - change queries or unsubscribe any time!