[X] My Assistant

[Decepticon]

I'm already looking forward to the extended mission. And one target I hope gets a closer look at is Iapetus.

(And yes I understand money and fuel are issues when it comes to this.)


Close Ups of the that ridge would be very interesting. Along with some Radar Observations.

Another reason is to get as much mapping done on all the major moons.




What would you like to see in the extended mission?

[Decepticon]

Even if Pioneer did fly close to the rings, its imager was not the best for observing such small particles.

[tedstryk]

True, Pioneer didn't have imaging capability worth squat. But it had great particle and fields instruments. I think they should have risked it.

[ljk4-1]

NASA Considering Extending Cassini Mission Through 2010

By Jefferson Morris

12/27/2005 08:57:09 AM

NASA is considering a two-year extension to the Cassini mission that would extend the probe's exploration of Saturn and its moons through 2010.

"NASA has given us some additional funding to study what the options would be" for the extra two years, said Bob Mitchell, Cassini program manager at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "About a year from now, I'm expecting that NASA will give us an [answer] one way or the other."

http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/chan...s/CASS12275.xml

[antoniseb]

NASA is considering a two-year extension to the Cassini mission that would extend the probe's exploration of Saturn and its moons through 2010.
http://www.aviationnow.com/avnow/news/chan...s/CASS12275.xml

Looking at the article, it says that Cassini might have enough hydrazene for a mission extension that doesn't involve a lot of fly-bys, but rather gives another two years or so of studying the rings (and perhaps Saturnian weather - my addition).

I suppose that would be a good thing to do... observe the rings as they move towards being edge on to the Sun. My gut feeling is that I'd really like to see a switch to Iapetus (from Titan) as the primary encounter target, but the low amount of fuel makes that unrealistic, and I suppose that there is really little that Cassini in particular can tell us more about that object's mysterious history.

[Cugel]

Looking at the article, it says that Cassini might have enough hydrazene for a mission extension that doesn't involve a lot of fly-bys, but rather gives another two years or so of studying the rings (and perhaps Saturnian weather - my addition).

That is not how I read it:

If we put together a tour that would look very much like what we're doing now - a Titan flyby every month or so and an icy satellite flyby stuck in here and there - then another two years would probably about run us out of fuel.

So we would get another 2 years of Titan flybys and some icy moons and after that... it's over. On the other hand, the 'uneventful' ring studying orbit could last much longer than 2 years, maybe even 10 years or so.