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The Cassini Mission is a
major NASA mission which will perform a detailled study of Saturn, the
rings, the magnetosphere, the Icy satellites and Titan. The Cassini
mission will carry out a multi-faceted survey of the Saturnian system
in 2004-2008. The payload includes 2 infrared spectrometers: VIMS
(0.35-5.1 um) and CIRS (5-1000 um). Because Cassini observations will
be focused on specific time intervals, spatial regions, and wavelength
intervals, ground-based support is needed to determine brightness
levels for planning purposes, provide global context and temporal
coverage.
Mission Timeline
- Oct 15, 1997 - Launch
- Apr 26, 1998 - Venus 1 Swingby
- Jun 24, 1999 - Venus 2 Swingby
- Aug 18, 1999 - Earth Swingby
- Dec 30, 2000 - Jupiter flyby
- Jul 01, 2004 - Saturn arrival
- Jul 2008 - Saturn tour ends
IRTF Mission Support
- Saturn: mid-IR spectroscopy, temporal coverage, global
context
- Titan: wind observations, spectroscopy with the Goddard
infrared heterodyne spectrometer, also temporal coverage with IR
spectroscopy
- Icy Satellites: Absolute reflectance at 1-5 microns to plan
the VIMS observations and integration times during the brief flybys
- Rings: 1-5 micron spatially resolved spectra to identify
interesting spectral regions or spatial regions for VIMS to focus on.
Mid-IR imaging to determine thermal intertia (how rapidly ring
particles warm after eclipse).
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