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NASA-CR-170371

19830075440
he year is 1610. Shakespeare's plays are the glory of
England. The firs t newspapers have just been published
in Europe. The Spanish are exploring the New World
and feverishly harvesting its riches. Scholars are compil-
ing the King lames version of the Bible that will be
'-----"'~~.......---I published next year.
It is 67 years since a Polish priest named Nicolaus
Copernicus published his heretical description of the
universe-a description that is shunned by the Church,
even in this enlightened year of 1610.
On cold, clear winter evenings this year, an Italian
scientist named Galileo Galilei is peering at the heavens with a new instrument
he has built. He learned about this device, which he calls a telescope, from a
Dutch spectacle maker. Am ong the celestial objects Gaiileo studies is Saturn, the
most distant planet he know s about. Galileo turns his tiny, crude telescope toward
Saturn. He is ill-prepared for the surprise the instrument provides.
Galileo 'has found other surprises in his surveys of the heavens, but Saturn
appears, believably, to have knobs protruding from its sides!
Or are tlley knobs? Could they be-his telescope is primitive and small-Itcup
handles?" His next conclusion: Two or more satellites must lie so close to Saturn
that his telescope can't separate them. Later he decides even that conclusion
is wrong.
Time passes and more pressing things- including his own trial by the Inquisition
on charges of heresy-occupy Galileo's time and thoughts. Because he is the
most respected scientist of his time, and by recanting his heresy that the Sun is
the center OJ the universe, Galileo survives the trial.
Years later. old and isolated from the world, Galileo again turns his telescope to
Saturn. As he looks, his hands tremble, he shakes his head in disbelief, blinks his
eyes and stares again.
The Itcup handles," or whatever they were, have disappeared!
"God has tricked me," the deeply religious scientist writes this night in his journal.
Today we know that every 15 years Saturn's rings, Galileo's Itcup handles," tum
edge-on to Earth and disappear from our view. But, because of its great distance
from Earth, scientists still cannot be specific about Saturn's nature.

Facing page: Could Galileo have imagined that


a spacecraft would travel to Saturn and, on its
way, photograph the'Earth in tandem with the
Moon? This unique photograph was taken on
September 18, 1977, when Voyager 1 was 12 mil-
lion kilometers from Earth ,

Cover: Voyager 1 photographed Saturn and


several of its satellites on September 17, 1980,
from 75 million kilometers away. Shown are
Titan (upper right) and Mimas and Enceladus
(under the ring).
the planet, and the instruments in mosaics that should reveal new
THE MISSION TO SATURN begin a four-month-Iong task of details in the banded clouds.
The two Voyager spacecraft are scrutinizing the Saturnian system. By November 2, even four-picture
approaching Saturn, the second Ultraviolet and infrared instru- mosaics of Saturn will not capture
target of their multi-planet mission. ments scan the Saturnian system, the entire disk. The cameras will
Voyagers 1 and 2 were launched measuring the composition and be directed, instead, to concentrate
from Cape Canaveral, Florida, temperatures of Saturn's cloud on atmospheric phenomena
toward the outer solar system in tops and the satellites' surfaces. that deserve special attention.
late summer 1977. Voyager 1 flew Magnetometers and particle detec- Mosaics and single photographs will
past Jupiter in March 1979 and tors analyze Saturn's magnetic cover progressively smaller
Voyager 2 followed in July. field and how it reacts with the sections of the planet. Now the
Each Voyager carries 11 instru- solar wind. A radio-astronomy re- infrared instrument can begin to
ments to examine Saturn, its satel- ceiver and plasma wave sensor map the temperature of Saturn
lites and rings. Voyager's radio- will listen for the sounds of space and the satellites.
its link with flight engineers and and of Saturn. Finally, Titan looms large in the
scientists at the Jet Propulsion By October 24, when Voyager 1 camera eye and, on November 11,
Laboratory-becomes a science is 25,980,000 kilometers from Voyager 1 flies behind the big
instrument as Voyager flies behind Saturn, the narrow-angle camera satellite. As it disappears, engineers
Saturn, its huge satellite Titan, can no longer capture all of Saturn's and scientists at JPL record and
and the rings themselves. disk in a single picture. Then both analyze data as Titan's methane
Voyager l's Saturn encounter the wide- and narrow-angle cam- atmosphere alters the radio signal
begins August 22, 1980, at a range eras will capture small segments that passes through it. Those mea-
of 109 million kilometers from of the disk that will fit together surements will tell scientists how

2
dense the atmosphere is at the Saturn, it will photograph and mea- A . Two Voyager spacecraft were launch ed from
surface and how it decreases with sure other Saturnian satellites Cape Canaveral, Florida, in the summer of
altitude, how far it extends above -Rhea, Dione, Mimas, Iapetus, 1977, beginning their journey to Jupiter, Saturn ,
and beyond.
the surface, what its composition Tethys, Hyperion, and Enceladus.
is, and how its structure and mo- Then Voyager speeds past the B. Voyager 1 took this picture of Jupiter, 10
planet itself, at 3:45 p.m. (PST) (left) , and Europa (right) , in February ~9 79
tion vary with altitude. The data from 20 million kilometers.
will also yield accurate measure- November 12, from only 124,200
C. November 12,1980 Voyager 1's closest
ments of Titan's size. kilometers away. Peering back-
approach to Saturn will be 125,000 kilometers
Titan is an important target for ward as it streaks away, Voyager 1 from the cloud tops. Six of the satellites that
Voyager 1. It is the largest satellite will continue to monitor the will be photographed are shown in their approx-
in the solar system and is the only Saturnian system until the eve- imate positions at closes t approach by th e
one known to have a substantial ning of December 15 . Then the spacecraft.
atmosphere. Astronomers believe exploratory effort turns toward the D. August 25, 1981 Voyager 2 will fly closer
that Titan, with an estimated di- second spacecraft, as Voyager 1 to Saturn than Voyager 1, passing about 101,000
ameter of 5,832 kilometers (3,624 begins its journey out of the solar kilometers from the cloud tops. Again, the
miles), could be a ball of ice larger system to interstellar space in the satellites are shown at their closest approach
positions.
than the planet Mercury. The Milky Way galaxy.
chances that Voyager's cameras Nine months later, on August E. Artist's conception of Saturn as seen from
the satellite Rhea.
will see Titan's surface are con- 25, 1981, Voyager 2 will soar past
sidered to be low because it will Saturn. Its photographic targets
probably hide behind opaque and other scientific goals will be
methane clouds. based on new knowledge acquired
As Voyager 1 rushes toward in the first encounter. Voyager 2

* * .-..
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will be targeted to continue on to VOYAGER SPACECRAFT FEATURES
two other planets, Uranus an d
Spacecraft Weigh t 808 kg 11 782 lb)
Neptune. It will arrive at Uranus
in January 1986. The target point Sc ience In struments We ight 105 kg 1232 lb)

there would carry Voyager on to High-Gai n Antenna Diameter 3.7 m 112 ft )


Neptune, where it would arrive in Radioisotope T hermoelectric Generator - 400 W
September 1989. Then it, too, will IRTGj Powe r la t Saturn )
depart the solar system and con- Data Storage Capability 538 mill ion bits
tinue to study space as it ventures X-Band Data Rate
out among the stars. at Jupi ter 115,200 bits per second
at Sa turn 44,800 bits per second

ULTRAVIOLET
S

PLASMA
HIGH-GAIN ANTENNA
(3.7 m DIA)
COSMIC RAY

HIGH-FIELD
MAGNETOMETER

INFRARED
LOW-FIELD SPECTROMETER
MAGNETOMETER (2) AND RADIOMETER

PHOTO POLARIMETER

LOW-ENERGY
C HARGED PARTICLE

OPTICAL CALIBRATION
TARGET

RADIOISOTOPE
THERMOELECTRIC
GENERATOR (3)

PLANETARY RADIO
ASTRONOMY AND
PLASMA WAVE
ANTENNA (2)

4.
SCIENTIFIC GOALS netic field. When NASA's Pioneer a 7l,600-kilometer radius for Jupi-
11 flew past the ringed planet, it ter), and their distances from the
After 370 years of observing and made the first certain measurements Sun. Although Saturn is twice as
studying Saturn, scientists say of a magnetic field, apparently far from the Sun as Jupiter, it re-
they still have much to learn about caused by the dynamo effect of a ceives only one-fourth the amount
this most beautiful of planets. large, rapidly rotating body. of sunlight and one-hundred.th the
They know it has a radius of Saturn is one of the solar sys- amount that strikes Earth.
60,000 kilometers; it has at least tem's four giants; the others are One key difference between JuP-
12 satellites and probably more; Jupiter, Uranus, and Neptune. iter and Saturn that Voyager 1 will
it requires almost 30 years to com- While all are similar on a gross pay special attention to is their
plete one turn around the Sun; scale- huge accumulations of mechanisms for generating inter-
its day lasts but 10 hours, 39.4 hydrogen and helium with small, nal heat. Both Jupiter and Saturn
minutes; and it is mostly hydrogen rocky cores-each exhibits its
and helium. But they still want own significant and unique prop- A. False-color processing of this Voyager 1
to know more about Saturn itself, erties. In Earth-based telescopes photograph of Saturn shows ultraviolet
what its rings are made of, how Saturn appears to be a smaller features of the atmosphere. The blue, bright
large the ring particles are, and version of Jupiter, a likeness ultraviolet areas represent a high-altitude haze.
This type of data helps determine th e com-
how they are formed . They want that increased after Voyager dis- position and variation in haze altitude. The
to understand more about the covered a ring around Jupiter. photograph was taken on August 24, 1980, from
environment surrounding Saturn, But there appear to be important 107 million kilometers.
including its magnetic field. differences between the two B. The clearest Earth-based picture of Saturn
It was less than a year ago that planets, such as size (a 60,000- was taken by the 61-inch reflector telescope at
scientists learned Saturn has a mag- kilometer radius for Saturn versus the Catalina Observatonj in Tucson, Arizona.

A
OD
P E
F'

A
c B

B
radiate about twice as much en- * The magnetosphere subtle atmospheric features than
ergy as they receive from the Sun. The Saturnian system is too far Jupiter, probably because a high-
That heat, theoreticians believe, from Earth to be studied as thor- altitude atmospheric haze obscures
was generated 4.6 billion years oughly as the Jovian system, and Saturn's clouds.
ago, as the solar system formed. the satellites are only point-light Astronomers have determined
Jupiter is so large that its primor- sources in a telescope. In contrast, that the wind at Saturn's cloud
dial heat has been escaping ever astronomers are able to photograph tops blows about twice as fast as
since. But some scientists claim the large Jovian satellites-Io, the wind on Jupiter, approximately
that Saturn should have cooled off Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto. 1,400 kilometers (900 miles) an
to equilibrium long ago. Therefore, hour. These calculations are based
Saturn's current surplus heat must Saturn on Earth-based observations of
be caused by some other mecha- Since Saturn is so far from the spots in Saturn's clouds, combined
nism, perhaps the separation of Sun, it is colder than Jupiter. Mate- with Voyager's radio measurements
hydrogen and helium deep within rial in its atmosphere freezes at of the rotation of the in terior
Saturn. The heavier helium prob- greater depths than on Jupiter. of Saturn.
ably sinks toward the center. Ammonia, for example, freezes Voyager scientists want to under-
and forms clouds on Saturn at a stand the atmosphere in terms of:
The subjects of Voyager l's re- depth of two to three Earth at- l. Its overall structure and compo-
search at Saturn are: mospheres, instead of one atmo- sition-what gases and other
*
*
The planet
The rings
sphere as on Jupiter. (One "Earth
atmosphere" is 1,000 millibars, the
A. Th e giant 64-meter anten nas of the world-
wide Deep Space Network receive Voyagers'
* The satellites, with emphasis on pressure at Earth's surface.) Saturn radio signals and route them to Mission
Titan also displays fewer and more Operations at JPL for analysis.

6
chemicals are present, in what from the planet. It has been photo- but some scientists doubt its
ratios, and the fine-scale (or graphed from Earth. existence.
very small) differences from F-ring; identified in images taken Observations made in 1966
place to place; by Pioneer 11. It is a very narrow yielded ring thicknesses of 1 to 3
2. Differences in temperature and ring, distinct and separate from kilometers (0.62 to 2 miles), al-
composition between bright both the E-ring and the A-ring. though recent analysis suggests
zones and dark belts; A-ring; outermost ring visible in that the rings, particularly the
3. How material changes with small Earth-based telescopes . E-ring, may be thicker.
depth in the atmosphere; B-ring; the brightest ring lies in- The rings appear to be entirely
4. Size, density, and composition side the A-ring, separated from it ice or ice-covered material a few
of the core. The core is thought by the Cassini Division. The divi- centimeters to a few meters in di-
to be about the size of Earth, sion is not clear of material, but ameter. Scientists want to measure
but 15 or 20 times as dense. contains a minute amount of dust particle sizes and densities, and
or ice. From Earth, the B-ring ap- to determine if material other
Rings pears completely filled; a Pioneer than ice is present. How and why
The ring designations were as- 11 image, however, shows light the rings formed is also a major
signed chronologically by their leaking through, which indicates question. The manner in which
date of discovery, and have nothing that there may be holes in the ring. sunlight is scattered depends on
to do with relative positions. This C- or crepe ring; barely visible the area and size of particles and
summary will list them beginning in small telescopes, it lies inside their numbers. Jupiter's ring for-
with the outermost ring. the B-ring. ward scatters because it contains
E-ring; extending to about eight A D-ring may exist between particles about 0.0005 centimeters
Saturn radii (480,000 kilometers) the Coring and the cloud tops, (0.002 inches) in diameter. Saturn's

Experiment VOYAGER SCIENTIFIC


COsmic Ray Principal Investigator INVESTIGATIONS
R.E. VOgt Primary M
Californi~ I . eaSUlements
Imaging SCience Technology nstltUte of ;ndergy spectra and isot .
1i n energeti °PIC compo ..
earn Leader. c particles in OUter I SIUon of COsmic ra .
Bradford Smith I . P anetary magnetos hY particles
Umversit f ' . maglng of planet Peres.
Infrared TUcson y 0 ATlzona, not Possible fro~ a;d satellites at resoluf
In terierometer Rudolf Hanel structures. arth. Atmospheric d~~~~i~~ phase angles
Spectrometer GOddard S ' and surface
Center pace Flight Energy balance of
LOW-Energy perature fields C planets. Atmosph .
Charged
f'hnM. Krimigis lite Surfaces a~d ~mpOSition and phys~~I~ c::mpOSition and te
Particles
tJmversity,
. s Hopkin;
A I'
Energy sp aturn's rings.
ectra and is
a c aracteristics of sat~;-
-
Magnetometer PhYSics Labo~~olryed particles In planetary ~~PgIC composition of low
N orman N netosphe -energy ch
res and Inter I arged
GOddard Sp:~se' Fl ' p anetary Space.
Center Ight Planetary d
Photopolarimeter an Interplanetar
Arthur L. Lane Y magnetIc fields.
Jet Propulsion'
Laboratory Methan e, ammo'
Planetary Radio spheres. Com osnla, molecular hYdro
Astronomy James Warwick, faces and Sat~'sl~~~ and phYSical ch!an't and .aerOsols in atm
Plasma RadIOphysics, Inc. PI anetary radio --"65. C enstlcs f 0-
'. 0 satellite sur-
Herbert· Bridge magnetospheres emISSIons and plasma
Massachu ' E ' resonances .
of Techn Isetts Institute nergy spectra f In planetary
Plasma Wave o ogy
charged particle 0 . solar-Wind electr
Frederick L S f terstellar hydr s In planetary env ' ons and ions low
TRW . car
Systems Gr~up D ogen. Ironments a ci . .-energy
ynamics of I ' n lomzed in-
Radio SCience tion phenome~ anctary magnetosph
Team Leader. Interactions. De~e~SmSoCiated With ch::ge:dand satellite perturba
G. Len Tyler,' Ph . lnatlOn of I partlcle_ I -
UltraViOlet Stanford University YSlcal properti i c ectron density p asma wave
Spectrometer A. ~Yle Broadfoot satellite masses es 0 atmospheres and ' .
Saturn's rin ' denSities and . IOnospheres PI
UOIve rsitYof ' gs. 'gravity field . anet and
SOuthern C 1'£ . Atmospheric com ' . s. Structure of
a hOrnla Thermal structur/~SltJon including hydr
In Interplanetary and upper atmospheres ~g~n to helium ratio
Interstellar space. ' y rogen and helium'

7
rings backscatter strongly, but timeters (1 to 3 feet) in diameter. tiny Martian satellites Phobos and
we have had no way to measure if Measurements of the signals' at- Deimos. Titan's size is thought to
there is also forward scattering. tentuation by the rings will give be anywhere from 5 percent to
Radio signals sent by the space- information on particles that are 20 percent larger than the planet
craft to Earth through the rings larger than a few centimeters. Mercury, which makes Titan the
will help determine the size of Scientists want to determine largest satellite discovered in our
ring particles, although photos why density apparently differs solar system.
probably will not show individual from ring to ring, and if there are Scientists are uncertain about
particles. The radio signals can waves or clumps of particles the densities of the Saturnian
identify particles 30 to 100 cen- within the rings. Waves may form satellites; they could range from
in the ring material by gravita- ice bodies to a mixture of ice and
tional forces from satellites out- rock. For example, Titan could
side the rings. Large objects in the either be all ice, or ice mixed with
A. Saturn's atmosphere appears to have belts rings themselves may also cause up to 15 percent rock.
and zones similar to Jupiter's, but they are
obscured by a thick, high-altitude haze. A thin
local variations in density. There are also uncertain ties
F-ring and a wide but diffuse E-ring lie about atmospheric pressure on the
outside the A-ring. Both are only visible edge on . Satellites satellites. The atmospheric pres-
The satellites of Saturn, other than sure is estimated to be between 20
B. Until now, Saturn's satellites have remain ed Titan, which is a class by itself, millibars and 2,000 millibars at
faceless to us because of their vast distances are different from any circling the
from Ea rth . Voyager 1 will photograph eight of
the surface of Titan. In comparison,
Saturn's moons, shown here in a size compari- other planets. They are smaller the surface atmospheric pressure
son with our Earth and Moon , and may reveal than Jupiter'S Galilean satellites, is about 1,000 millibars on Earth
similarly striking features . but larger than Amalthea and the and about 10 millibars on Mars.

NORTH EQUATORIAL BELT

C-RING _ _----,.. ~ _ _ _ _ NORTH NORTE


B-RING . _ - - - - - NORTf.

CASSINI DIVISION

' - - - - ENCKE DIVISION SOUTH TEMPERATE BELT

SOUTH EQUATORIAL BELT SOUTH SOUTH TEMPERATE BELT

SOUTH POLAR REGION

8
These questions about size, interior of Saturn and was measured
composition, and atmospheric with Voyager radio-astronomy
pressure will be partially answered data obtained since January 1980.
by the Voyager spacecraft, which Earth observations had shown
is also expected to discover new, similar periods from temperate
smaller satellites outside the and polar regions of Saturn, but a
A-ring. much shorter (10 hours, 14 minutes)
period near the equator; indicating
Magnetosphere the presence of a high-velocity
Scientists want to know why equatorial jet stream.
Saturn's magnetosphere behaves
differen tl y from the magnetospheres
of Earth and Jupiter. Pioneer data
show that Saturn's magnetic pole
is offset by less than one degree
from the rotational pole, whereas
the magnetic poles of Earth,
Jupiter, and the Sun are offset
substantially.
Voyager has determined with
high precision the length of a day
on Saturn: 10 hours, 39.4 minutes.
That rotation period refers to the

'EMPERATE BELT

'EMPERATE BELT

B
o IAPETUS
EARTH

o HYPER ION

TITAN

0 RHEA
MOON

0 DIONE

0 TETHYS

0 ENCELADUS

MIMAS
L

VOYAGER AT JUPITER superbolts of lightning crackling B. This historic, ultraviolet photograph of a vol-
through the atmosphere. canic explosion on 10 was taken by Voyager 1 in
The two Voyager spacecraft pro- March 1979, from a distance of 490,000 kilometers.
vided more knowledge (and m ore A. Jupiter and its four planet-sized moons, C. Voyager 1 photographed Jupiter from th e
surprises) about Jupiter, its five called th e Galilean satellites, were photographed dark side of the planet as the spacecraft proceeded
major satellites, and the magnetic in March 1979 by Voyager 1 and assembled into on to Saturn.
and radiation environment of this collage. They are not to scale but are in
their relative positions.
the Jovian system during the first
seven months of 1979 than had
been accumulated in the 369 years
B
since Galileo originated the scien-
tific method and began telescopic
observations.
A few of the major scientific
discoveries included at least eight
erupting volcanoes on the sulfur-
ous satellite 10; a doughnut-shaped
ring of ionized material orbiting
Jupiter that is fed by lo's volcanoes
and, in turn, pumps material across
the length and breadth of the entire
Jovian system; a ring of particles
surrounding Jupiter; and auroras and

10111
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