U22A:
Cassini's Grand Finale: Discoveries and Science Highlights

Note: Abstract submissions to Union sessions are by invitation only.



Session ID#: 24261

Session Description:
After 13 years in orbit around Saturn, the Cassini-Huygens mission ended with a dramatic plunge into Saturn's atmosphere in September 2017 sending back data until Cassini tumbled and vaporized in Saturn's atmosphere. Preceding the final plunge, Cassini executed a series of 20 Ring-Grazing orbits just outside Saturn’s main rings followed by 22 highly inclined Grand Finale orbits with closest approaches between the innermost rings and atmosphere. This Union session will highlight new Cassini discoveries from multiple disciplines including magnetospheric physics, outer solar system planetary and ring science, and space physics. Topics will include new results on Saturn's gravitational and magnetic fields; Saturn's ring mass; first in-situ sampling of main ring particles, Saturn's plasma environment, upper atmosphere and exosphere; high resolution imaging, spectra and radar measurements of both Saturn and its rings, using data collected during this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore Saturn in a region where no spacecraft had flown before.
Primary Convener:  Scott G Edgington, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States
Convener:  Marcia E Burton, NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States
Chairs:  Marcia E Burton, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States and Scott G Edgington, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States
OSPA Liaison:  Scott G Edgington, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States
Index Terms:

2730 Magnetosphere: inner [MAGNETOSPHERIC PHYSICS]
6265 Planetary rings [PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS]
6275 Saturn [PLANETARY SCIENCES: SOLAR SYSTEM OBJECTS]
7845 Particle acceleration [SPACE PLASMA PHYSICS]

Abstracts Submitted to this Session:

Cassini’s Grand Finale Overview (Invited) (259683)
Linda Joyce Spilker, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States
Saturn’s Magnetic Field from the Cassini Grand Finale orbits (Invited) (237935)
Michele Karen Dougherty1, Hao Cao2,3, Krishan K Khurana4, Gregory James Hunt5, Gabrielle Provan6, Stephen Kellock7, Marcia E Burton8, Thomas A. Burk8 and The Cassini Magnetometer Team, (1)Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom, (2)California Institute of Technology, Division of Geological and Planetary Sciences, Pasadena, CA, United States, (3)Harvard University, Earth and Planetary Sciences, Cambridge, MA, United States, (4)University of California Los Angeles, Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, Los Angeles, United States, (5)Imperial College London, London, SW7, United Kingdom, (6)University of Leicester, School of Physics and Astronomy, Leicester, United Kingdom, (7)Imperial College London, Blackett Laboratory, London, United Kingdom, (8)JPL, Pasadena, CA, United States
The Dark Side of Saturn's Gravity (Invited) (251273)
Luciano Iess1, Paolo Racioppa2, Daniele Durante1, Mirco Mariani Jr1, Aseel Anabtawi3, John W. Armstrong3, Luis Gomez Casajus4, Paolo Tortora5 and Marco Zannoni4, (1)Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, (2)Sapienza University of Rome, Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering, Rome, Italy, (3)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (4)University of Bologna, Department of Industrial Engineering, Forlì, Italy, (5)University of Bologna, Centro Interdipartimentale di Ricerca Industriale Aerospaziale, Forlì, Italy
Cassini INMS Measurements of Saturn’s Atmosphere and Ionosphere (Invited) (215992)
Jack H Waite, University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, United States and The Cassini Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer Team
High-resolution imaging of Saturn’s main rings during the Cassini Ring-Grazing Orbits and Grand Finale (Invited) (226005)
Matthew S Tiscareno, SETI Institute, Mountain View, CA, United States and Cassini Imaging Team
Radio and Plasma Wave Observations During Cassini's Grand Finale (Invited) (218282)
William S Kurth1, Rolf Bostrom2, Patrick Canu3, Baptiste Cecconi4, Nicole Cornilleau-Wehrlin3, William M Farrell5, Caitriona Mary Jackman6, Patrick H. M. Galopeau7, Donald A Gurnett8, G Gustafsson2, George B Hospodarsky1, Laurent Lamy9, Alain Lecacheux9, Philippe Louarn10, Robert J. MacDowall5, John Douglas Menietti1, Ronan Modolo11, Michiko Morooka2, Arne Pedersen12, Ann M Persoon1, Ali H Sulaiman13, Jan-Erik Wahlund2, Shengyi Ye8 and Philippe M Zarka14, (1)University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States, (2)IRF Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden, (3)Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Palaiseau, France, (4)Observatoire de Paris, Université de Recherche Paris Sciences et Lettres, Meudon, France, (5)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (6)Austrian Academy of Sciences, Vienna, Austria, (7)LATMOS/IPSL, UVSQ, Guyancourt, France, (8)University of Iowa, Physics and Astronomy, Iowa City, IA, United States, (9)Observatoire de Paris, LESIA, Meudon, France, (10)CNRS - Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Toulouse, France, (11)CNRS-LATMOS, Guyancourt, France, (12)University of Oslo, Department of Physics, Oslo, Norway, (13)University of Minnesota, School of Physics and Astronomy, Minneapolis, United States, (14)Observatoire de Paris, PSL, CNRS, LESIA, Meudon, France
Radar observations of Saturn's rings during the Cassini Grand Finale (Invited) (236920)
Zhimeng Zhang1, Michael A Janssen2, Charles Elachi3, Richard West2, Stephen D Wall2, Jeffrey N Cuzzi4, Matthew Hedman5 and Yanhua Z Anderson2, (1)NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (2)Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States, (3)California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, United States, (4)NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, United States, (5)Cornell University, Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science, Ithaca, United States
Cassini MIMI Close-Up of Saturn Energetic Particles: Low Altitude Trapped Radiation, Auroral Ion Acceleration, and Interchange Flow Channels (Invited) (218984)
Donald G Mitchell1, Stamatios Mike Krimigis2, Norbert Krupp3, Chris Paranicas1, Elias Roussos4, Peter Kollmann1 and The Cassini MIMI Science Team, (1)Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, United States, (2)Academy of Athens, Space, Athens, Greece, (3)Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Katlenburg-Lindau, Germany, (4)Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, Germany

See more of: Union