NASA says its Cassini spacecraft will return to Saturn's largest moon, Titan, this week to again inspect the cloud-shrouded moon, but from 4,654 miles away.
The Thursday flyby will place Cassini more than 3,970 miles higher above Titan's surface than it was during it's Jan. 12 flyby, but scientists say that will not make the new mission any less valuable.
Instead, NASA said the high-altitude encounter will provide an opportunity for some of the spacecraft's instruments to gain another unique perspective. For example, Cassini's imaging science subsystem is set to acquire high-resolution observations during and after its closest-approach, covering territory from the trailing hemisphere at high southern latitudes northeast to near-equatorial locations.
And on the spacecraft's inbound leg, a spectrometer will have the opportunity to do one stellar occultation. A stellar occultation occurs when an intervening body — in this case Titan — blocks the light from a star. That is expected to allow scientists to further constrain the composition and the spectral properties of Titan's atmosphere.
NASA said this week's mission marks the 67th targeted flyby of Titan.
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