SATURN S RECENT CRATER FLUX AS CONSTRAINED BY CASSINI VIMS BACKGROUND: THE CRATERING FLUX FOR THE INNER SOLAR SYSTEM IS PARTIALLY CONSTRAINED BY GEOCHRONOLOGICAL MEASUREMENTS OF RETURNED LUNAR SAMPLES AND MARTIAN METEORITES COMBINED WITH CRATERING STUDIES; HOWEVER THE FLUX FOR THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM DOES NOT HAVE SUCH CONSTRAINTS. AT PRESENT THE PRIMARY METHOD OF UNDERSTANDING THE CRATERING HISTORY OF THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM IS VIA DYNAMICAL SIMULATIONS AND CRATERING STUDIES. THE ICY NATURE OF THE SATURNIAN MOONS THOUGH PROVIDES AN AS-OF-YET UNEXPLORED MEANS TO DATE YOUNG CRATERS. AN IMPACT ONTO AN ICY MOON WILL MELT A SHALLOW QUASI-SPHERICAL REGION. CRYSTALLINE ICE FORMS FROM THE FLASH HEATING OF SURFACE ICE AND SUBSEQUENT COOLING OF THE EXPOSED MELT. OVER TIME BOMBARDMENT BY IONS DISRUPTS THE CRYSTALLINE STRUCTURE PRODUCING AMORPHOUS ICE AT A KNOWN RATE ALLOWING FOR AN ESTIMATE OF FORMATION AGE. HERE WE PROPOSE TO USE VISIBLE AND INFRARED MAPPING SPECTROMETER (VIMS) DATA TO STUDY THE DISTRIBUTION OF ICE PHASES WITHIN AND SURROUNDING YOUNG CRATERS ON MIMAS TETHYS DIONE AND RHEA ALONG WITH CRATER COUNTS ON THESE CRATERS' FLOORS IN ORDER TO ESTIMATE THE RECENT CRATER FLUX EXPERIENCED BY THESE MOONS. SCIENCE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES: THE SCIENCE QUESTIONS WE PROPOSE ARE MOTIVATED BY RECENT SPACECRAFT DATA ANALYSIS AND ADVANCEMENTS IN SPECTROSCOPIC STUDIES OF ICE. WE SEEK TO ANSWER: 1) WHAT IS THE DISTRIBUTION OF ICE PHASES WITHIN AND SURROUNDING YOUNG CRATERS ON MIMAS TETHYS DIONE AND RHEA? 2) WHAT IS THE PREDICTED FORMATION AGE FOR THE STUDIED CRATERS USING THE KNOWN TRANSITION TIME BETWEEN CRYSTALLINE AND AMORPHOUS ICE? 3) WHAT IS THE DEGRADATION STATE OF THE OBSERVED CRATERS AND DOES THIS SUPPORT THE INFERRED AGE FROM OUR VIMS STUDY? 4) HOW HAS THE CRATER FLUX CHANGED OVER THE PAST FEW GA AND DOES IT VARY BETWEEN THE STUDIED MOONS? 5) HOW RECENTLY WERE THE GEOLOGICALLY YOUNG TERRAINS OF THE MID-SIZED MOONS OF SATURN FORMED? SUMMARY OF METHODOLOGY: WE WILL USE THE 2 M SPECTRAL BAND ASYMMETRY TO DETERMINE THE FRACTION OF CRYSTALLINE TO AMORPHOUS ICE ON THE SURFACE. THE MAIN ADVANTAGE OF APPLYING THE 2 M TECHNIQUE DEVELOPED BY CO-I DALLE ORE IS THAT IT IS INDEPENDENT OF THE SPECTRUM RESOLUTION AND IS STABLE EVEN IN THE CASE OF FAIRLY NOISY DATA. WE WILL USE TOPOGRAPHIC DATA OF THE MID-SIZED MOONS TO DETERMINE THE SLOPE OF THE CRATER WALLS FOR EACH STUDIED CRATER AND USE CASSINI IMAGING SCIENCE SUBSYSTEM (ISS) GEOLOGIC CONTEXT IMAGERY TO INFER STRATIGRAPHIC RELATIONSHIPS. THIS WILL ALLOW US TO ESTIMATE THE DEGRADATION STATE OF EACH CRATER WHICH WILL BE COMPARED WITH THE VIMS INFERRED CRATER AGE. ISS IMAGERY WILL ALSO BE USED TO CONDUCT CRATER STATISTICAL ANALYSIS OF THE FLOORS OF EVERY STUDIED CRATER IN ORDER TO QUANTIFY THE CRATER DENSITY ACCUMULATED AFTER FORMATION. VIA OUR FULLY THREE-DIMENSIONAL MONTE CARLO CRATERING MODEL WE WILL RELATE CRATER DENSITIES TO BOMBARDMENT MASSES. FINALLY GIVEN OUR DERIVED FORMATION AGES AND THE MEASURED CUMULATIVE BOMBARDMENT MASS EXPERIENCED WE WILL DEVELOP A CRATER FLUX FOR SATURN S MID-SIZED MOONS WHICH CAN INFORM DYNAMICAL MODELS OF THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM CRATERING HISTORY. RELEVANCE TO CDAP OBJECTIVES: THE PROPOSED WORK WOULD ENHANCE THE SCIENTIFIC RETURN OF THE CASSINI MISSION BY PRODUCING MAPS OF ICE PHASES WITHIN AND SURROUNDING CRATERS ON THE SATURNIAN MOONS USING CASSINI VIMS DATA. THE PROPOSED WORK WOULD MAKE USE OF PRODUCED HIGHER ORDER DATA PRODUCTS RESULTING FROM CASSINI ISS IN ORDER TO STUDY THE CRATERING HISTORY OF SATURN S MOONS. THE PROPOSED TASKS INCORPORATE BOTH DATA ANALYSIS AND NONDATA-ANALYSIS TASKS THAT ARE NECESSARY TO ANALYZE AND INTERPRET THE PROPOSED ANALYSIS. BY COMBINING SPECTROSCOPIC DATA THE OBSERVED CRATERING OF THE MID-SIZED MOONS ALONG WITH THEORY AND MODELING THE PROPOSED WORK WOULD HELP UNRAVEL THE RECENT CRATER FLUX OF THE SATURN SYSTEM AND SHED LIGHT ON THE DYNAMICAL HISTORY OF THE OUTER SOLAR SYSTEM.