[X] My Assistant

[imran]

Whether this is a two-year extension or longer I'd still have to go with Titan. There is so much of this world which we don't understand and have only begun to unveil that it begs us to focus our attention on this dynamic world. Some important questions that may only be answered with additional flybys:

- What is the source of methane in the atmosphere?
- Are there any bodies of liquids on the surface?
- Is there active precipitation?
- Is Titan geologically active, i.e. cryvolcanism, tectonism, etc?
- What is the extent of the organics present?
- Is there an ammonia/water mixture under the surface?

[Guest_BruceMoomaw_*]

I've been watching for it carefully, but haven't seen any yet. Alex Blackwell and "Volcanopele" (alias Jason Perry) are probably our best sources on this, being on the Inside.

[TritonAntares]

Hello,
about 3 months ago I asked for plans for the Extended CASSINI Mission.
Still no news?

Bye.

[JRehling]

Hello,
about 3 months ago I asked for plans for the Extended CASSINI Mission.
Still no news?

Bye.

It's been so long, I can't remember if this document was part of the previous discussion:

http://caps.space.swri.edu/caps/TeamMeetin...ded_mission.pdf

This is somewhat informative, mainly to the tune of "bad news" from the standpoint of a long, exciting extended mission with wildly new priorities. Although the extended mission may end up, still, exciting, there are these realities:

1) The number of encounters in an extended mission will range from 12 to 20. That is to say, 27% to 44% of the primary mission in terms of raw number of encounters.

2) The first four orbits of the extended mission have already been planned. That could mean as few as 8 "unplanned" orbits/encounters.

3) Because the orbiter ends the primary mission in a highly-inclined orbit which severely restricts opportunities for icy-moon encounters, and because it takes several encounters to get that inclination down to zero, there will probably be VERY few extended-mission encounters of ANY of the "icies".

I think we'll end up seeing, at best, 15 more Titan encounters and 5 more of Enceladus. Of course, those could be highly significant.

[TritonAntares]

I think we'll end up seeing, at best, 15 more Titan encounters and 5 more of Enceladus. Of course, those could be highly significant.

Hi,
bad news if it will end up like this...

But I still hope for an extra opportunity to observe Iapetus from another direction ('snowman' or the big southern bassin e.g.)
additionally to sep. 2007...

Bye.

[tedstryk]

Hi,
bad news if it will end up like this...

But I still hope for an extra opportunity to observe Iapetus from another direction ('snowman' or the big southern bassin e.g.)
additionally to sep. 2007...

Bye.

Before we see more details, we can't be sure that it won't be planned. And, not to mention, if Cassini ends up like Galileo (at least in terms of extensions - not communications), this will just be extension 1!

[ugordan]

if Cassini ends up like Galileo (at least in terms of extensions - not communications)

That would be wonderful, but all things point to us having only one mission extension. The limiting factor will be the amount of propellant left. After 1.5 or 2 year extension we'll be running practically on fumes.
Not much left to do except park the spacecraft in an uneventful orbit and do some remote science there. Or do one of them crazy, suicide runs into the rings/Titan/Saturn...

[vexgizmo]

Not much left to do except park the spacecraft in an uneventful orbit and do some remote science there. Or do one of them crazy, suicide runs into the rings/Titan/Saturn...

Analogous to Galileo at Jupiter, I would imagine that Saturn would have to be final resting place of Cassini, given all the discussion of a potentially habitable environment at Enceladus. Like at Europa, we may now have to give a hoot and not pollute.

[mchan]

If and when Cassini finally goes for Saturn entry, I hope it takes a grazing path just above or below the rings and reorient to send the pictures back after it clears the rings if there is time.