U21A:
Cassini's Grand Finale: Discoveries and Science Highlights 1 Year Later
Note: Abstract submissions to Union sessions are by invitation only.
Session ID#: 47439
Session Description:
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 22 highly inclined Grand Finale orbits with closest approaches between the innermost rings and atmosphere. Many surprises and new discoveries awaited Cassini in this previously unexplored territory.
This Union session will highlight new Cassini discoveries from multiple disciplines, including magnetospheric physics, outer solar system planetary and ring science, and space physics, revealed by data collected during this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to explore Saturn in a region where no spacecraft had flown before. 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.
OSPA Liaison: Marcia E Burton, JPL, Pasadena, CA, United States
Primary Convener: Scott G Edgington, Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, United States
Convener: Marcia E Burton, JPL, Pasadena, CA, United States
Chairs: Marcia E Burton, JPL, Pasadena, CA, United States and Scott G Edgington, Jet Propulsion Lab/Caltech, Pasadena, CA, United States
Abstracts Submitted to this Session:
Michele Karen Dougherty, Imperial College London, London, United Kingdom, Hao Cao, University of California Los Angeles, Department of Earth, Planetary, and Space Sciences, Los Angeles, CA, United States and The Cassini Magnetometer Team
Jack H Waite1, Mark E Perry2, Rebecca Perryman3, Kelly Miller3, Jared Micheal Bell4, Donald G Mitchell5, William S Kurth6, Ann M Persoon6, Jan-Erik Wahlund7, Michele Karen Dougherty8, Gregory James Hunt9 and Scientific Team of the Cassini INMS, CAPS, MIMI, RPWS, and MAG, (1)University of Alabama, Tuscaloosa, United States, (2)JHU/APL--Space Dept, Laurel, MD, United States, (3)Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, United States, (4)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Code 675, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (5)Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, Laurel, MD, United States, (6)University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States, (7)IRF Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden, (8)Imperial College, London, United Kingdom, (9)University of Leicester, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Leicester, United Kingdom
Donald G Mitchell1, Stamatios Mike Krimigis2, Chris Paranicas1, Norbert Krupp3, Douglas C Hamilton4, Peter Kollmann5, Elias Roussos6, James F Carbary7, Nick Sergis8 and 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)University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD, United States, (5)The Applied Physics Laboratory, John Hopkins University, Laurel, United States, (6)Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Göttingen, Germany, (7)Johns Hopkins Univ, Laurel, MD, United States, (8)Academy of Athens, Athens, Greece
Frank Postberg1, Hsiang-Wen Hsu2, Ralf Srama3, Sascha Kempf2, Nicolas Altobelli4, Jurgen Schmidt5, Nozair Khawaja6 and Chrsitian Fischer7, (1)Free University of Berlin, Institute of Geological Sciences, Berlin, Germany, (2)LASP/University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, United States, (3)University of Stuttgart, Institute of Space Systems, Stuttgart, Germany, (4)ESAC, Villafranca del Castillo, Spain, (5)University of Oulu, Space Physics and Astronomy Research Unit, Oulu, Finland, (6)University of Heidelberg, Heidelberg, Germany, (7)University of Heidelberg, Earth Sciences, Heidelberg, Germany
William S Kurth1, Terrance F Averkamp2, Rolf Bostrom3, Patrick Canu4, Baptiste Cecconi5, Nicole Cornilleau-Wehrlin6, William M. Farrell7, Georg Fischer8, Patrick H. M. Galopeau9, Donald A Gurnett10, G Gustafsson11, Lina Hadid12, George B Hospodarsky2, Laurent Lamy13, Alain Lecacheux14, Philippe Louarn15, Robert J. MacDowall16, John Douglas Menietti10, Ronan Modolo17, Michiko W Morooka11, Arne Pedersen18, Ann M Persoon1, Ali H Sulaiman19, Jan-Erik Wahlund11, Shengyi Ye2 and Philippe M Zarka20, (1)University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, United States, (2)University of Iowa, Physics and Astronomy, Iowa City, IA, United States, (3)Swedish Inst. of Space Physics, Uppsala, Sweden, (4)Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Palaiseau, France, (5)Paris Observatory Meudon, Meudon, France, (6)Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas, Saint-Maur Des Fossés Cedex, France, (7)NASA Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, United States, (8)Austrian Academy of Science, Space Research Institute, Graz-St Peter, Austria, (9)Univ Versailles St Quentin, Guyancourt, France, (10)University of Iowa, Department of Physics and Astronomy, Iowa City, IA, United States, (11)IRF Swedish Institute of Space Physics Uppsala, Uppsala, Sweden, (12)Ecole Polytechnique, LPP-CNRS, Palaiseau Cedex, France, (13)Obs. Paris/PSL, Pythéas/AMU, LIRA, LAM, Marseille, France, (14)Paris Observatory Meudon, LIRA, Meudon, France, (15)CNRS - Institut de Recherche en Astrophysique et Planétologie, Toulouse, France, (16)NASA Goddard SFC, Greenbelt, MD, United States, (17)LATMOS/IPSL, UVSQ Université Paris-Saclay, Sorbonne Université, Guyancourt, France, (18)University of Oslo, Department of Physics, Oslo, Norway, (19)University of Minnesota, School of Physics and Astronomy, Minneapolis, United States, (20)Observatoire de Paris, PSL, CNRS, LESIA, Meudon, France
Jeffrey N Cuzzi, NASA Ames Research Center, Moffett Field, CA, United States and Matthew S Tiscareno, Carl Sagan Center for Study of life in the universe, Mountain View, United States
