On October 3, 2024, Chunyu Ding’s team published their research titled “Exploring Titan's subsurface: The findings of Insights from Cassini RADAR and prospects for future investigations” in the ESI Space Science journalNew Astronomy Reviews(SCI, JCR Q1, IF = 11.7).
Shenzhen University is the primary contributing institution; the first author is Peiying He, an undergraduate from the College of Physics and Optoelectronic Engineering; and the corresponding author is Chunyu Ding, a researcher from the Institute for Advanced Study.
The Cassini-Huygens mission was the first dedicated mission to explore Saturn and its moons. It launched in 1997 and ended on September 15, 2017. Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, is the only satellite in the solar system with a dense atmosphere and stable surface liquids, and it is believed to harbor a subsurface ocean. Over nearly 13 years of flyby observations, the Cassini spacecraft produced a wealth of scientific data. This paper focuses on one Cassini's scientific payload RADAR, offering a comprehensive analysis of recent findings related to Titan’s shallow subsurface, including features like hydrocarbon lakes/seas and dune formations. Considering the objectives of the upcoming Dragonfly mission, the paper discusses the distribution of water ice and impact craters on Titan, and provides insights into potential investigations of low-latitude regions.The review also elaborates on RADAR’s penetration capabilities and detection principles, compares the design and performance of ground-penetrating radar used in planetary exploration, then offers recommendations and projections for radar payloads and scientific goals in future Titan missions. Its goal is to present an overview of Titan’s subsurface research, with a particular focus on geological composition and evolution, potential underground exploration, and assessments of resources and habitability, providing valuable reference and inspiration for future exploration of icy moons in the solar system.
This work is supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (No.62227901,12073048,12473063 and 42004099), the Natural Science Foundation of Guangdong Province, China (No.2024A1515011275), the Shenzhen Science and Technology Innovation Commission (No.20231121103211001), the Opening Fund of the Key Laboratory of Lunar and Deep Space Exploration, CAS (No.LDSE202005), and the Fund of Shanghai Institute of Aerospace System Engineering (No.PZ_YY_SYF_JY200275), the Shenzhen Municipal Government Investment Project (No.2106-440300-04-03-901272), and the National Undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship Training Program (No. 202310590016)..
Link to the paper:https://doi.org/10.1016/j.newar.2024.101710
Figure 1: Artistic concept of Cassini RADAR exploring Titan (Saturn’s largest moon). The graphic abstract of this paper about Titan subsurface exploration is attached at the bottom right.
