Saturn Titan Mission Questions - Essay Example

Number] Summarise the current Cassini-Huygens Mission and describe three of its goals. The Cassini-Huygens mission Spacecraft entered the orbit of Saturn on 1st July 2004 as was supposed to (Lorenz and Mitton 1), where it was supposed to stay for almost 4 years and remain in Saturn’s orbit to investigate its rings, the atmosphere and saturn’s moons. Huygens probe which was attached to Cassini spacecraft was supposed to detach from the spacecraft and land on Titan, which is largest moon of Saturn.

Three of this mission’ goals are:to unveil the secrets behind the opaque orange coloured miststudy the composition of Saturn’s moons.To study its magnetosphere. 2. Who were Cassini and Huygens? Write a paragraph on each of them describing the scientific works they are most associated with.Christian Huygens was born in 1629, April. He was a Dutch scientist, mathematician and astronomer. Among his famous works and discoveries are the early studies using telescope regarding rings of Saturn. He was the one who discovered the rings around Saturn as well as Titan in 1655; the largest moon of Saturn.

He also invented the pendulum clock. He died in 1695 on 8th July.Jean Dominique Cassini was born in 1625, on June 8th. He has numerous discoveries related to Saturn attached to his name. He discovered four of the Saturn’s moons, Iapetus in1671, Rhea in 1972, Tethys and Dione in 1684. He also discovered that the rings of Saturn have separation by a gap in two parts in 1675, it is in his honor named Cassini Division, and he presumed that the Saturn’s rings composition was of the small particles myriads, which was correct. 3. Describe the Huygens probe as well as its landing on Titan.

The atmospheric entry probe which was part of Cassini–Huygens mission carried to Titan; Saturn’s moon was called the Huygens probe. It separated itself from the spacecraft on 25th December 2004 (Scott Allen Striepe, pg12) and landed on Titan’s surface on 14th January 2005. The landing of this Huygens probe was designed for both water and land since it wasn’t concrete which kind of surface it might be; it turned out to be solid, icy. It sent several images that helped understanding of Titans atmosphere throughout its descent.4. Discuss three things that we have learned about Titans surface and atmosphere.

The atmosphere of Titan is twice in its thickness compared to that of Earth, the surface pressure there is approximately 1.45 times that of the earth. This makes it hard for image capturing in visible spectrum of light by the astronomical instruments.The earliest images of Titan’s surface showed that it has diverse geology, with areas both smooth and rough. surfaces of land and liquid, with methane lakes.The composition of atmosphere in stratosphere is:nitrogen: 98.4%Methane: 1.4%Hydrogen 0.2%5. Select a moon of Saturn and describe, in detail, its known composition.

Titan is second largest moon in Solar system with diameter of 5,150 km, with the only one having dense, surface pressure being 1.5 atm and cold atmosphere, primary composites being nitrogen and little methane. Being dense, its atmosphere usually has convective clouds that are bright white, making the surface observation difficult. It is also the only moon that has large liquid bodies, in form of lakes of methane.6. Research and describe the following about Saturns rings: composition, dimensions, speed of rotation, moons with in rings.

Composition: Saturn’s rings have sheet like distribution of the icy particles, majority of which have composition and the size of snowballs. They orbit Saturn in individual yet very similar, and in orbits that are almost exactly circular in shape, at a range of distances from planet.Dimensions: The diameter of rings of Saturn is almost over 120,000 miles but they are very thin with thickness not being more than just some hundred yards thick at any place.Speed of rotation: The speed of rings that revolve around Saturn is different than that at which planet rotates on its own axis.

Each of the rings around Saturn rotates at a speed that is different from each other. Work CitedLorenz, Ralph and Mitton, Jacqueline. Lifting Titans Veil: Exploring the Giant Moon of Saturn. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2002. Print.