Radio science on the Cassini mission to Saturn

The Cassini spacecraft carries perhaps the most capable radio science instrument ever flown to explore a planet of our solar system. Six of the twelve instruments use passive and active remote sensing techniques that cover the ultraviolet, visible, infrared, millimeter, and microwave ranges of the electromagnetic spectrum. The other six are designed to probe the particles, fields, plasma, and radio wave environment of the Saturn system. A suite of engineering subsystems, including subsystems for propulsion, attitude control, commanding, data recording, and telemetry, supports the scientific instruments and other spacecraft functions. The broad range of radio science experiments to be conducted during the mission lifetime will help search for the (so far) elusive gravitational waves, and will contribute in fundamental ways to our understanding of planet Saturn and its ring system, the planet-size satellite Titan, and other large satellites of Saturn.