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Atthiswriting the Cassini spacecraft has ?redits engine and
successfully inserted itself andits precious cargoof scienti?c
instruments into orbit, the ?rst step of its exploration of the
Saturnian system. The suspense is not over, however. While
excitingimages of therings have been captured, anexotic composition
of Phoebe sensedby themapping spectrometer and unexpectedpanoply of
magneticwaves andplasma dynamics encountered on the incoming
trajectory andinitial orbit, the
Huygensprobeisstillonboardandthe?rstclose?ybyofTitanhasnottakenplace.
Not until Christmas Day will the probe bereleased.Navigators are
still checking theircalculations,
worryingaboutknownunknownslikethemassofSaturn'smoons that could
cause ever so small a deviation from the planned trajectory of the
probe. Theorbiter investigators are also anxious but theyget their
taste of Titan earlier, on October 26.Howwell will theydetect the
surface? How thickisthe atmosphere? Does Titan
haveamagnetic?eld?Isthere lightninginthe atmosphere of Titan? While
terrestrial and HubbleSpace Telescope pictures have improvedgreatly
over the years, they cannot match the resolution obtainable from
orbitabout theplanet, and much of the data issimply
unobtainablewithout direct insitu sensing. Volume 1 of this three
volume set described the Cassini/Huygens mission, its scienti?c
objectives and the Huygens probethat will soon enter theTitan at-
sphere. Volume 2 described the insitu investigations on theorbiter.
In this, the third and ?nal volume of the compendium, we
describethe remote sensing inv- tigations: radioscience, radar,
visibleandinfrared spectroscopy, thermalinfrared studies,
ultraviolet spectroscopy and visible imagery.
This volume contains five articles describing the mission and its
instruments. The first paper, by the project scientist Richard C.
Elphic and his colleagues, describes the mission objectives, the
launch vehicle, spacecraft and the mission itself. This is followed
by a description of LADEE's Neutral Mass Spectrometer by Paul
Mahaffy and company. This paper describes the investigation that
directly targets the lunar exosphere, which can also be explored
optically in the ultraviolet. In the following article Anthony
Colaprete describes LADEE's Ultraviolet and Visible Spectrometer
that operated from 230 nm to 810 nm scanning the atmosphere just
above the surface. Not only is there atmosphere but there is also
dust that putatively can be levitated above the surface, possibly
by electric fields on the Moon's surface. Mihaly Horanyi leads this
investigation, called the Lunar Dust Experiment, aimed at
understanding the purported observations of levitated dust. This
experiment was also very successful, but in this case their
discovery was not the electrostatic levitation of dust, but that
the dust was raised by meteoroid impacts. This is not what had been
expected but clearly is the explanation that best fits the data.
Originally published in Space Science Reviews, Volume 185, Issue
1-4, 2014.
The Magnetosheath and Magnetotail of Venus.- The Structure of the
Venus Ionosphere.- Ion Dynamics in the Venus Ionosphere.- Magnetic
Fields in the Ionosphere of Venus.- Plasma Waves at Venus.- Venus
Lightning.- The Structure, Luminosity and Dynamics of the Venus
Atmosphere.
The NASA Dawn mission, launched in 2007, aimed to visit two of the
most massive protoplanets of the main asteroid belt: Vesta and
Ceres. The aim was to further our understanding of the earliest
days of the Solar System, and compare the two bodies to better
understand their formation and evolution. This book summarises
state-of-the-art results from the mission, and discusses the
implications for our understanding not only of the asteroid belt
but the entire Solar System. It comprises of three parts: Part 1
provides an overview of the main belt asteroids and provides an
introduction to the Dawn mission; Part 2 presents key findings from
the mission; and Part 3 discusses how these findings provide
insights into the formation and evolution of the Solar System. This
is a definitive reference for academic researchers and
professionals of planetary science, asteroid science and space
exploration.
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