Mission

Atmosphere and Weather Study

Titan's atmosphere is known to be rich in nitrogen and its climate yields dense clouds of methane and ethane. The Cassini mission uncovered evidence of a "methane cycle" analagous to Earth's water cycle. Seasonal weather patterns occur on Titan just as they do on Earth.

The Cassini Swarm mission seeks to further our understanding of Titan's weather systems, its seasons, and its atmosphere by measuring rainfall. This data would help scientists create models of Titan's complex atmospheric system and to draw comparisons with Earth's.

Topography Study

The weather on Titan is suspected to have heavily influenced the topography of its surface. Just like on Earth, a cycle of rainfall and evaporation has led to the formation of lakes, oceans, and deserts. Other yet unknown forces have caused the formation of mountains and rugged terrain.

The Cassini Swarm mission seeks to map out the surface terrain on Titan at unprecedented resolution. The advanced distributed Interferometric SAR system will be used to resolve fine detail in the shape and elevation of geographical features. Collecting this data will enable scientists to study Titan's features that bear striking resemblance to Earth's.

The Cassini probe has made frequent Titan flybys during its missions both to leverage its substantial gravity for trajectory modification and to study Titan itself. Although the missions have enabled many interesting discoveries about Titan's geographic and atmospheric features, Cassini's missions were mainly focused on studying the Saturn system, including its rings, magnetosphere, surface, and many of its moons during carefully arranged flybys. Since Titan is the only known natural satellite of a planet to have a dense atmosphere and the only system other than Earth to have stable bodies of liquid on its surface, it merits a focused scientific mission. The Cassini Swarm mission will enable the study of Titan with an area of coverage and resolution of detail never before attempted.