caa a22 4500 469076607 CHVBK 20180323132936.0 cr unu---uuuuu 170328e19921101xx s 000 0 eng 10.1007/BF02506709 doi (NATIONALLICENCE)springer-10.1007/BF02506709 The radar system for the exploration of Titan [Elektronische Daten] [G. Picardi, R. Seu, A. Coradini, E. Zampolini, A. Ciaffone] Summary: In the field of the exploration of the Solar System NASA and ESA have jointly planned two cornerstone missions whose aim is the close observation of two largely unknown planetary bodies: Titan (Cassini mission) and comet nuclei (Rosetta mission). Our attention in this paper will be devoted to the first one, however some results of this study can be applied also to the second one. Titan is one of Saturn's moons and is characterized by the presence of a dense atmosphere, opaque for optical sensors. Therefore radar data are the only ones at least theoretically capable of giving relatively detailed informations about the geomorphologic structure of Titan. As a matter of fact the radar cross-section depends on both the dielectric constant of the target by means of the Fresnel reflectivity and on its surface roughness. Moreover if the attenuation is sufficiently low, the radar in principle could be able to detect subsurface discontinuities as well. The above considerations hold true only if a well-suited analytical model accounting for surface backscattering is known. All throughout this paper the radar cross-section of planetary bodies will be evaluated in the case of high-resolution radars. Società Italiana di Fisica, 1992 96.30 nationallicence Planets and satellites (excluding the Moon) nationallicence 95.85.Ek nationallicence Radar nationallicence microwave nationallicence Picardi G. INFO-COM, Università di Roma «La Sapienza», Italia aut Seu R. INFO-COM, Università di Roma «La Sapienza», Italia aut Coradini A. IAS, Reparto Planetologia, CNR, Roma, Italia aut Zampolini E. INFO-COM, Università di Roma «La Sapienza», Italia aut Ciaffone A. INFO-COM, Università di Roma «La Sapienza», Italia aut Il Nuovo Cimento C Società Italiana di Fisica 15/6(1992-11-01), 1149-1161 0390-5551 15:6<1149 1992 15 11543 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02506709 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI 1 research-article jats NATIONALLICENCE 856 40 https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02506709 text/html Onlinezugriff via DOI NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Picardi G. INFO-COM, Università di Roma «La Sapienza», Italia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Seu R. INFO-COM, Università di Roma «La Sapienza», Italia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Coradini A. IAS, Reparto Planetologia, CNR, Roma, Italia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Zampolini E. INFO-COM, Università di Roma «La Sapienza», Italia aut NATIONALLICENCE 700 1- Ciaffone A. INFO-COM, Università di Roma «La Sapienza», Italia aut NATIONALLICENCE 773 0- Il Nuovo Cimento C Società Italiana di Fisica 15/6(1992-11-01), 1149-1161 0390-5551 15:6<1149 1992 15 11543 Metadata rights reserved Springer special CC-BY-NC licence nationallicence BK010053 XK010053 XK010000 NATIONALLICENCE NATIONALLICENCE NL-springer