{"id":6821,"date":"2010-01-28T10:26:00","date_gmt":"2010-01-28T10:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/cassinis-next-look-at-titan\/"},"modified":"2010-01-28T10:26:00","modified_gmt":"2010-01-28T10:26:00","slug":"cassinis-next-look-at-titan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.euvolution.com\/futurist-transhuman-news-blog\/space-station\/cassinis-next-look-at-titan.php","title":{"rendered":"Cassini’s Next Look at Titan"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"Cassinis<\/a>Sixteen days after last visiting Saturn's largest moon<\/span>, NASA<\/a>'s Cassini spacecraft <\/span>returns for another look-see of the cloud-shrouded moon - this time from on high. The flyby on Thursday, Jan. 28, referred to as \"T-66<\/span>\" in the hollowed halls of Cassini operations, will place the spacecraft <\/span>within 7,490 kilometers (4,654 miles) above the surface during time of closest approach.

While this latest close approach places Cassini <\/span>more than 6,400 kilometers (3,970 miles) higher above Titan's surface than the Jan. 12 flyby, it should not considered of lesser scientific value. Instead, this high-altitude encounter will provide an opportunity for some of the spacecraft's instruments to gain another unique perspective on this crepuscular world.<\/p>

During T-66, the Imaging Science Subsystem<\/span> is set to acquire high-resolution observations during and after closest-approach, covering territory from the trailing hemisphere at high southern latitudes northeast to near-equatorial Adiri. On the inbound leg, the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer will have the opportunity to do one stellar occultation<\/span>. (A stellar occultation occurs when an intervening body -- in this case Titan -- blocks the light from a star). Thursday's stellar occultation should allow the Cassini science <\/span>team to further constrain the composition and the spectral properties of Titan's atmosphere<\/span>.<\/p>

Although this latest flyby is dubbed \"T66<\/span>,\" planning changes early in the orbital tour made this the 67th targeted flyby of Titan. T66 is the 22nd Titan encounter in Cassini's Solstice Mission<\/span>.<\/p>

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA<\/span>, the European Space Agency <\/span>and the Italian Space Agency. JPL<\/span>, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Science Mission<\/span> Directorate, Washington, D.C. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter<\/span>. The Huygens <\/span>probe, built and managed by the European Space Agency, was bolted to Cassini <\/span>and rode along during its nearly seven-year journey to Saturn, before being released for its descent through Titan's atmosphere<\/span>.<\/p>

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