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Just How Close Can Cassini Come to Enceladus?
pioneer
post Aug 12 2008, 03:00 PM
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According to this press release, Cassini will fly 25 Km from the surface of Enceladus in October blink.gif I know the escape velocity of Enceladus is low, but just how close can Cassini come to the surface without the gravity pulling it in? What is the escape velocity of Enceladus?
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scalbers
post Aug 17 2008, 03:30 PM
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I think the hypothetical gravity calculation for the interior of Enceladus should take into account the fact that gravity decreases in the interior compared with the maximum value reached at the surface. Hence there would be no gravitational advantage to considering an interior flyby.

When you are inside a roughly spherical world, only the radius interior to where you are ends up giving a net gravitational attraction.


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- pioneer   Just How Close Can Cassini Come to Enceladus?   Aug 12 2008, 03:00 PM
- - ugordan   No matter how strong the gravity of a body you...   Aug 12 2008, 03:14 PM
|- - djellison   QUOTE (ugordan @ Aug 12 2008, 04:14 PM) 1...   Aug 12 2008, 03:37 PM
- - Holder of the Two Leashes   Unless there is something to slow it down, such as...   Aug 12 2008, 03:21 PM
|- - ugordan   QUOTE (Holder of the Two Leashes @ Aug 12 200...   Aug 12 2008, 03:24 PM
- - volcanopele   I'm busy at the moment, but can someone do a q...   Aug 12 2008, 03:58 PM
|- - ugordan   I don't think the "same gravity force...   Aug 12 2008, 04:18 PM
|- - MahFL   16 miles is a bit close isn't it ? You'd f...   Aug 12 2008, 04:28 PM
- - djellison   Well - my maths is probably off, but I get 1.86 km...   Aug 12 2008, 04:13 PM
- - remcook   I get negative numbers for altitude edit: not a...   Aug 12 2008, 04:13 PM
- - volcanopele   lol, good to know I was thinking it was below th...   Aug 12 2008, 04:17 PM
- - volcanopele   I'd be concerned if that were our first flyby....   Aug 12 2008, 04:39 PM
- - remcook   I think ugordon is right though. You'd need to...   Aug 12 2008, 04:48 PM
|- - ugordan   Remcook, I think your calculation missed the fact ...   Aug 12 2008, 04:56 PM
|- - remcook   QUOTE (ugordan @ Aug 12 2008, 05:56 PM) R...   Aug 13 2008, 08:21 AM
- - tasp   Just a quick break here to give a tip of the hat t...   Aug 13 2008, 04:25 AM
|- - mchan   Chen-wan L. Yen E.g., ref http://adsabs.harvard.e...   Aug 13 2008, 05:29 AM
- - jmknapp   QUOTE (pioneer @ Aug 12 2008, 10:00 AM) A...   Aug 14 2008, 12:08 AM
- - scalbers   I think the hypothetical gravity calculation for t...   Aug 17 2008, 03:30 PM

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