TandEM: Titan and Enceladus mission

• Published in: Experimental astronomy Vol. 23; no. 3; pp. 893 - 946
• Main Authors: Coustenis, A., Balint, T., Dougherty, M. K., Ferri, F., Fulchignoni, M., Gautier, D., Gowen, R. A., Gurvits, L. I., Langevin, Y., Leese, M. R., Lunine, J. I., Moussas, X., Müller-Wodarg, I., Sittler, E. C., Sohl, F., Tobie, G., Tokano, T., Turtle, E. P., Coates, A. J., Dandouras, I., Lorenz, R. D., Morse, A., Hirtzig, M., Spilker, T., Achilleos, N., Amils, R., Annan, P., Atkinson, D. H., Bénilan, Y., Bertucci, C., Bézard, B., Bjoraker, G. L., Blanc, M., Capria, M. T., Coll, P., Cravens, T., de Pater, I., Dutuit, O., Fairbrother, D., Frampton, R., Fujimoto, M., Galand, M., Grasset, O., Grott, M., Haltigin, T., Herique, A., Hussmann, H., Ip, W., Johnson, R., Kempf, S., Kofman, W., Koop, R., Kostiuk, T., Krupp, N., Lammer, H., Le Mouélic, S., Lebonnois, S., Ledvina, S., Li, J., Livengood, T. A., Luz, D., Mahaffy, P. R., Mall, U., Marty, B., Milillo, A., Mitchell, D. G., Modolo, R., Mousis, O., Neish, C. D., Nna Mvondo, D., Orton, G., Paetzold, M., Pitman, J., Pogrebenko, S., Prieto-Ballesteros, O., Rannou, P., Robb, F. T., Rodrigo, R., Rodriguez, S., Romani, P., Ruiz Bermejo, M., Sarris, E. T., Schmitt, B., Schmitz, N., Schulze-Makuch, D., Spilker, L. J., Stam, D., Steele, A., Stephan, K., Strobel, D. F., Szego, K., Szopa, C., Thissen, R., Tomasko, M. G., Vali, H., Vardavas, I., Vuitton, V., West, R. A., Yelle, R., Young, E. F.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Dordrecht Springer Netherlands 01-03-2009; Springer Link
• Subjects: Astronomy; Astrophysics; Chemistry and Earth Sciences; Computer Science; Earth and Planetary Astrophysics; Enceladus; Fysik; Landing probes; NATURAL SCIENCES; NATURVETENSKAP; Observations and Techniques; Original Article; Physics; Physics and Astronomy; Saturnian system; Sciences of the Universe; Statistics for Engineering; TandEM; Titan; TandEM; Landing probes; Titan; Saturnian system; Enceladus
• ISSN: 0922-6435; 1572-9508; 1572-9508
• DOI: 10.1007/s10686-008-9103-z

TandEM was proposed as an L-class (large) mission in response to ESA’s Cosmic Vision 2015–2025 Call, and accepted for further studies, with the goal of exploring Titan and Enceladus. The mission concept is to perform in situ investigations of two worlds tied together by location and properties, whose remarkable natures have been partly revealed by the ongoing Cassini–Huygens mission. These bodies still hold mysteries requiring a complete exploration using a variety of vehicles and instruments. TandEM is an ambitious mission because its targets are two of the most exciting and challenging bodies in the Solar System. It is designed to build on but exceed the scientific and technological accomplishments of the Cassini–Huygens mission, exploring Titan and Enceladus in ways that are not currently possible (full close-up and in situ coverage over long periods of time). In the current mission architecture, TandEM proposes to deliver two medium-sized spacecraft to the Saturnian system. One spacecraft would be an orbiter with a large host of instruments which would perform several Enceladus flybys and deliver penetrators to its surface before going into a dedicated orbit around Titan alone, while the other spacecraft would carry the Titan in situ investigation components, i.e. a hot-air balloon (Montgolfière) and possibly several landing probes to be delivered through the atmosphere.