Feasibility Of Determining Haze Properties During High-speed Titan Entry

Author

Harlan F. Nelson, Missouri University of Science and Technology

Abstract

An international cooperative project between the National Aeronautics and Space Adminstra-tion (NASA) and the European Space Agency (ESA) is planning to send a probe into the atmosphere of Titan (a moon of Saturn) as part of the Cassini Mission to Saturn. This paper ana-lyizes the feasibility of measuring the intensity of atomic carbon and hydrogen line emission in the shock layer during the high velocity portion of the entry to determine the number density and composition of the organic haze particles in the Titan atmosphere. Analysis indicates that the line radiation signal-to-noise ratios are high enough so that determination of the haze particle number density and composition appears to be feasible. The analysis may be applicable to other future planetary missions.

Recommended Citation

H. F. Nelson, "Feasibility Of Determining Haze Properties During High-speed Titan Entry," AIAA 28th Thermophysics Conference, 1993, article no. AIAA 93-2762, American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Jan 1993.

The definitive version is available at https://doi.org/10.2514/6.1993-2762

Department(s)

Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering

Document Type

Article - Conference proceedings

Document Version

Citation

File Type

text

Language(s)

English

Rights

© 2023 American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, All rights reserved.

Publication Date

01 Jan 1993