Author: Rahul Rahulan

The target that I have selected for the Cassini spacecraft, to take an image of is target number two: Dione. Below I will explain why I have chosen this outstanding satellite as the target of which the Cassini spacecraft should take an image of.

This marvelous moon of Saturn's is very mysterious and therefore, using the observations of the Cassini spacecraft, these mysteries could potentially be unlocked.

The mysteries of Dione include ice cliffs which look like wispy terrain. These ice cliffs can be several hundred metres high. These ice cliffs were probably caused through tectonic shifts. Cassini might help us to establish the precise cause.

There is also a question that I have been wondering about: the craters on Dione date back to billions of years ago, but are there any more recent or "young" craters on it? Cassini might help answer this question.

A few features of Dione can theoretically support life: a liquid substance below its surface, fields of "ice sand", and geysers that slow the rotation of the magnetic field of planets nearby. Evidence also shows that there is atmospheric oxygen on Dione - but just barely. This supports the idea that there is extraterrestrial life on the planets Jupiter and Saturn. This could be the answer to a question that scientists still cannot work out: is there life outside of Earth? Cassini might help solve these mysteries.

At the bottom of Dione, near its South Pole, Dione has canyons, which look more like lunar rilles than quake - cliffs. Lunar rilles are lava flows which could also suggest the existence of water, since water could have discharged the role of lava long ago. The observations of Cassini spacecraft would be able to identify in detail what these canyons really are.

Another question is: why Dione has spun at an angle of 180 degrees from its original position. Dione is very heavily cratered, more in some parts than in others. The heavily-cratered terrain is located on the trailing hemisphere and the less heavily- cratered terrain is located on the leading hemisphere. This suggests that during the period when Dione's craters were being formed, Dione was tidally locked to Saturn in the opposite orientation. As Dione is relatively small, an impact (from Saturn's rings) causing a crater of at least 35 kilometers length could have spun the satellite. Cassini's observations might help provide some answers.

In conclusion I think that Dione is the best target for the Cassini spacecraft to take an image of, and I think that NASA should use the opportunity presented by the Cassini spacecraft mission to photograph this moon. Dione could possibly hold the answers to, many things. After all, the Cassini spacecraft has the perfect camera angle for the necessary photographs, and this would therefore help to ensure that the best use is made of this extraordinary spacecraft.