5 research outputs found
Saturn's Exploration Beyond Cassini-Huygens
Get PDFFor its beautiful rings, active atmosphere and mysterious magnetic field,
Saturn is a fascinating planet. It also holds some of the keys to understanding
the formation of our Solar System and the evolution of giant planets in
general. While the exploration by the Cassini-Huygens mission has led to great
advances in our understanding of the planet and its moons, it has left us with
puzzling questions: What is the bulk composition of the planet? Does it have a
helium core? Is it enriched in noble gases like Jupiter? What powers and
controls its gigantic storms? We have learned that we can measure an outer
magnetic field that is filtered from its non-axisymmetric components, but what
is Saturn's inner magnetic field? What are the rings made of and when were they
formed? These questions are crucial in several ways: a detailed comparison of
the compositions of Jupiter and Saturn is necessary to understand processes at
work during the formation of these two planets and of the Solar System. This
calls for the continued exploration of the second largest planet in our Solar
System, with a variety of means including remote observations and space
missions. Measurements of gravity and magnetic fields very close to the
planet's cloud tops would be extremely valuable. Very high spatial resolution
images of the rings would provide details on their structure and the material
that form them. Last but not least, one or several probes sent into the
atmosphere of the planet would provide the critical measurements that would
allow a detailed comparison with the same measurements at Jupiter. [abridged
abstract
