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For the last decade, the passive radiometer incorporated in the Cassini RADAR has recorded the 2.2cm wavelength thermal emission from Titan's seas. In this paper, we analyze the radiometry observations collected from February 2007 to January 2015 over one of these seas, Ligeia Mare, with the goal of providing constraints on its composition, bathymetry, and dynamics. In light of the depth profile obtained by Mastrogiuseppe et al. (2014) and of a two-layer model, we find that the dielectric constant of the sea liquid is

The angular momentum of the atmosphere and of the hydrocarbon lakes of Titan have a large equatorial component that can excite polar motion, a variable orientation of the rotation axis of Titan with respect to its surface. We here use the angular momentum obtained from a General Circulation Model of the atmosphere of Titan and from an Ocean Circulation Model for Titan's polar lakes to model the polar motion of Titan as a function of the interior structure. Besides the gravitational torque exerted by Saturn on Titan's aspherical mass distribution, the rotational model also includes torques arising due to the presence of an ocean under a thin ice shell as well as the influence of the elasticity of the different layers. The Chandler wobble period of a solid and rigid Titan without its atmosphere is about 279 years. The period of the Chandler wobble is mainly influenced by the atmosphere of Titan (-166 years) and the presence of an internal global ocean (+135 to 295 years depending on the internal model) and to a lesser extent by the elastic deformations (+3.7 years). The forced polar motion of a solid and rigid Titan is elliptical with an amplitude of about 50 m and a main period equal to the orbital period of Saturn. It is mainly forced by the atmosphere of Titan while the lakes of Titan are at the origin of a displacement of the mean polar motion, or polar offset. The subsurface ocean can largely increase the polar motion amplitude due to resonant amplification with a wobble free mode of Titan. The amplitudes as well as the main periods of the polar motion depend on whether and which forcing period is close to the period of a free mode. For a thick ice shell, the polar motion mainly has an annual period and an amplitude of about 1 km. For thinner ice shells, the polar motion amplitude can reach several tens of km and shorter periods become dominant. We demonstrate that for thick ice shells, the ice shell rigidity weakly influences the amplitude of the polar motion. For thin ice shells, the level of the resonant amplification of the polar motion amplitude depends on the ice shell rigidity. Future observations of the polar motion of Titan could help constraining some properties of its interior structure as the ice shell thickness and ocean density.

International audience; Ligeia Mare is the second largest sea of Saturn's moon Titan. It is also the first extraterritorial sea for which a bathymetry profile was obtained. In this paper, we analyze all data acquired up to July 2013 in the passive mode of the RADAR (i.e., radiometry mode) on board the Cassini probe in order to constrain its composition, seasonal change and bathymetry.

We present a radar map of the Titan's seas, with bathymetry estimated as proportional to distance from the nearest shore. This naive analytic bathymetry, scaled to a recent radar sounding of Ligeia Mare, suggests a total liquid volume of 32,000 km(3), at the low end of estimates made in 2008 when mapping coverage was incomplete. We note that Kraken Mare has two principal basins, separated by a narrow (similar to 17 km wide, similar to 40 km long) strait we refer to as the 'throat'. Tidal currents in this strait may be dramatic (similar to 0.5 m/s), generating observable effects such as dynamic topography, whirlpools, and acoustic noise, much like tidal races on Earth such as the Corryvreckan off Scotland. If tidal flow through this strait is the dominant mixing process, the two basins take 20 Earth years to exchange their liquid inventory. Thus compositional differences over seasonal timescales may exist, but the composition of solutes (and thus evaporites) over Croll-Milankovich timescales should be homogenized.

The entry, descent and landing of ExoMars offer a rare (once-per-mission) opportunity to perform in situ investigation of the martian environment over a wide altitude range. Entry, Descent and Landing System (EDLS) measurements can provide essential data for atmospheric scientific investigations.\ud \ud We intend to perform atmospheric science measurements by exploiting data from EDLS engineering sensors and exploiting their readings beyond the expected engineering information.

International audience

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. © Springer Science + Business Media B.V. 2008.