Cassini RADAR Icy Satellite Observation Designs and Results

Although Titan is the primary target of interest for the Cassini RADAR, whenever possible the radar has observed other icy satellites in the Saturn system. Nearing the end of the prime mission, some have been observed several times, and some have been observed with multi-point scans with real-aperture resolution providing some regional data. Most of the observations are tone transmissions that are processed for their Doppler signature. In a few cases, a full chirp is transmitted which offers the possibility of range processing. In a recent Iapetus observation, the range was low enough to permit synthetic aperture imaging of portions of the facing hemisphere. This presentation will discuss the observation designs used, and the status and prospects for processing of the overall data set. The latest results from the Iapetus imaging observation will be shown. In addition to the active echo data obtained, passive radiometer data has also been obtained and the two data sets have the potential to complement the optical and infrared imaging of the icy satellites and shed more light on the structure and composition of their surfaces. This work is supported by the NASA Cassini Program at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology.