Cassini RADAR: prospects for Titan surface investigations using the microwave radiometer

Abstract

The Radar instrument on the Cassini spacecraft can be used in a passive radiometric mode to map the microwave emission from Titan: these will be the first resolved microwave emission measurements of an icy satellite. Observation plans and the theory for their interpretation is presented: these data should be able to provide crude composition maps of Titan's surface, confirm equator-to-pole temperature gradients without the influence of the atmospheric effects which affect infrared observations and place constraints on surface and subsurface temperature variations. Additionally, passive radiometry will also provide some bistatic reflection measurements, using the sun as a source, which may be used to constrain roughness of ethane seas.