Understanding the Composition of Titan’s Surface from Remote Sensing Data

The Cassini spacecraft investigated the nature of the second largest satellite of our solar system, Saturn’s Titan, for 13 years, ending its mission in 2017. In addition to Cassini’s remote sensing monitoring of Titan, valuable data was acquired in situ from the surface by ESA’s Huygens probe in 2005. Cassini carried 12 instruments of which 3 were dedicated to the investigation of its geology by studying its surface globally in the visual, infrared, and radar wavelength ranges. We present an overview of major results for the chemical composition of Titan’s surface as derived by Cassini’s remote sensing instruments.