Key Takeaways:
- On October 26, 2004, the Cassini spacecraft executed its initial close pass of Titan, designated Titan Flyby A, approaching within 1,200 kilometers of the moon's surface after a seven-year journey and four months orbiting Saturn.
- During this flyby, Cassini acquired hundreds of photographs, conducted its first radar observations, and collected samples of Titan's outer atmosphere.
- Early imagery revealed a high-contrast surface featuring complex bright and dark areas, numerous bright streaks parallel to the equator, and a notable absence of impact craters, indicating a geologically young surface.
- Complementary data were gathered through scatterometry, radiometry, magnometer, and spectrometer instruments, with atmospheric analyses specifically conducted to prepare for the subsequent Huygens probe landing.
On Oct. 26, 2004, the Cassini spacecraft made its first close pass by Saturn’s planet-size moon, Titan (later known as Titan Flyby A). After a seven-year journey — the last four months of which were spent in orbit around Saturn — Cassini plunged within 745 miles (1,200 kilometers) of the world’s surface. It snapped hundreds of photographs, made its first radar observations, and even scooped up traces of the moon’s outer atmosphere.
The first close-up images showed a surface with lots of contrast and a complex interplay between the bright and dark expanses, and numerous bright streaks running parallel Titan’s to equator. The surface appeared young, as there was no immediate evidence of impact craters, even though Saturn’s other moons bear innumerable impact scars. In addition to imaging, instruments on Cassini collected scatterometry, radiometry, and magnometer and spectrometer results. Those traces of Titan’s atmosphere were also analyzed, in preparation for the Huygens probe to conduct a full study when it landed on the moon in January of the following year.
