Radio and Plasma Wave Observations During Cassini's Grand Finale

W. S. Kurth (1) , R. Bostrom (2) , Patrick Canu (3) , B. Cecconi (4) , Nicole Cornilleau-Wehrlin (3) , W. M. Farrell (5) , G. Fischer (6) , Patrick H. M. Galopeau (7) , D. A. Gurnett (8) , G. Gustafsson (2) , G. B. Hospodarsky (1) , L. Lamy (4) , A. Lecacheux (4) , P. Louarn (9) , R. J. Macdowall (5) , J. D. Menietti (1) , Ronan Modolo (7) , M. Morooka (2) , A. Pedersen (10) , A. M. Persoon (1) , A. H. Sulaiman (1) , J. E. Wahlund (2) , S. Ye (8) , P. M. Zarka (4)

1 University of Iowa [Iowa City]
2 IRF - Swedish Institute of Space Physics [Uppsala / Kiruna]
3 LPP - Laboratoire de Physique des Plasmas
4 LESIA - Laboratoire d'études spatiales et d'instrumentation en astrophysique
5 GSFC - NASA Goddard Space Flight Center
6 OeAW - Austrian Academy of Sciences
7 HELIOS - LATMOS
8 Department of Physics and Astronomy [Iowa City]
9 IRAP - Institut de recherche en astrophysique et planétologie
10 Department of Physics [Oslo]

Cassini ends its 13-year exploration of the Saturnian system in 22 high inclination Grand Finale orbits with perikrones falling between the inner edge of the D ring and the upper limits of Saturn's atmosphere. The Cassini Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument makes a variety of observations in these unique orbits including Saturn kilometric radiation, plasma waves such as auroral hiss associated with Saturn's auroras, dust via impacts with Cassini, and the upper reaches of Saturn's ionosphere. This paper will provide an overview of the RPWS results from this final phase of the Cassini mission with the unique opportunities afforded by the orbit. Based on early Grand Finale orbits, we can already say that the spacecraft has passed through cyclotron maser source regions of the Saturn kilometric radiation a number of times, found only small amounts of micron-sized dust in the equatorial region, and observed highly variable densities of cold plasma of order 1000 cm-3 in the ionosphere at altitudes of a few thousand km.

Domaines: Physique des plasmas [physics.plasm-ph]; Astrophysique [astro-ph]

W. S. Kurth, R. Bostrom, Patrick Canu, B. Cecconi, Nicole Cornilleau-Wehrlin, et al.. Radio and Plasma Wave Observations During Cassini's Grand Finale. American Geophysical Union, Fall Meeting 2017, Dec 2017, New Orleans, Louisiane, United States. pp.abstract #U22A-07. ⟨hal-02752288⟩