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An Italian tracking station for Cassini
Ambrosini, R.; Grueff, G.
We present a feasibility study for a 64 m fully steerable parabolic radiotelescope capable of high efficiency operation at frequencies up to 100 GHz. If funds are made available, and construction rapidly started, the antenna would be available in time to be used as a tracking station for the Cassini radio science experiments.
The microwave sensing in the Cassini Mission : the radar
Johnson, W. T. K.; Borgarelli, L.; Im, E. +1 more
The spacecraft of Cassini Mission has been launched towards Saturn on October 1997 to study the physical structure and chemical composition of Saturn as well as all its moons. To this end many instruments have been mounted on the spacecraft ; one of these is the Cassini Radar. Cassini Mission is a cooperative mission between NASA (National Aeronau…
Prospects in astrometry and orbital determination of minor bodies
Carpino, M.
The astrometry of asteroids and comets is undergoing a significant progress, both in accuracy and number of observations, as a consequence of the introduction of CCD devices and the availability of stellar catalogues dense enough to cope with CCD relatively small fields of view. Further, substantial progress in accuracy is expected from the availa…
Cassini radar : system concept and simulation results
Orosei, R.; Picardi, G.; Seu, R. +1 more
The Cassini mission is an international venture, involving NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency (ASI), for the investigation of the Saturn system and, in particular, Titan. The Cassini radar will be able to see through Titan's thick, optically opaque atmosphere, allowing us to better understand the composition and the…
Atmospheric studies with spectro-imaging : prospects for the vims experiment on Cassini
Bellucci, Giancarlo; Bellini, Barbara; Formisano, Vittoria
Spectroscopic observations of Jupiter and Saturn are here reported to show the possible applications to the future data acquired by the instrument VIMS ( Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer) on board of the Cassini Mission. The following images and spectra have been acquired by a similar instrument called VNIR ( Visible and Near Infrared Spe…
Doppler receiver for Cassini radio science experiments
Comoretto, G.
The Ka band tracking capability of the Cassini spacecraft allows for greater accuracy in most Radio Science experiments, but can be used only with the Goldstone DSN complex, i.e. for one third of the total time. A digital receiver has been designed to allow receiving the Ka band signal from a generic VLBI antenna. The receiver interfaces with the …
Cassini Huygens mission : the exploration of the Saturn system. Radio science experiments : Radio Frequency Instrument Subsystem
Perrot, Bruno; Giordani, Roberto
Many of the Cassini radio science experiments will require very stable microwave signals from the ground station that are transponded phase coherently on board the spacecraft. The Radio Frequency Instrument Subsystem is designed to provide this latter capability with high performance downlink signals at S-band and Ka-band. The signal level and pha…
Origins of the first-order anisotropy of ∼ 1 MeV protons in the Jovian magnetosphere during the Ulysses flyby: flux gradients and plasma flows
Balogh, A.; Forsyth, R. J.; Dunlop, M. W. +4 more
For zeroth-order distributions of energetic ions which are not too far from isotropy, the field-perpendicular first-order anisotropy results principally from the E × B plasma flow transverse to the magnetic field, and from spatial gradients in the ion flux. A technique is presented which separates these sources of anisotropy by examining their dep…
Physical risks of landing on a cometary nucleus
Kührt, E.; Keller, H. U.; Knollenberg, J.
Comets originate from the outer solar system where the density and temperature of the planetary nebula were rather low. They form a distinct class of small solar system bodies and their physical properties differ considerably from those of any other known objects. The present knowledge of the cometary nucleus is cursory and driven more by imaginat…
Using photochemistry to explain the formation and observation of C 2 in comets
Weaver, Harold A.; A'Hearn, Michael F.; Sorkhabi, Osman +4 more
Laboratory data taken from the laser-induced fluorescence (LIF) spectrum of C 2(X 1Σg+) radicals produced during the 193 nm laser photolysis of C 2H 2 has been used to explain the band profiles of the Hubble Space Telescope (HST) on nucleus spectra of the C 2 Mulliken sys…