WE PROPOSE AN INVESTIGATION TO TRACK THE ORIGIN AND POSSIBLE MIGRATION HISTORY OF THE ORGANIC MATERIAL PREVIOUSLY FOUND TO BE SIMILAR ON THE SURFACES OF IAPETUS PHOEBE AND HYPERION. VIA THE EXTRACTION AND CHARACTERIZATION OF THE HYDROCARBON SIGNATURE FROM VIMS SPECTRA OF IAPETUS PHOEBE AND HYPERION AND ITS COMPARISON TO THAT OF THE CLOSEST INTERNAL SATELLITE RHEA WE WILL MAP THE LOCATION OF THE MATERIAL OF SIMILAR NATURE IN THE OUTER SATURN SYSTEM. PAST WORK ON THE SPECTRAL SIGNATURE OF THE DARK CARBONACEOUS MATERIAL PRESENT ON THE SURFACES OF IAPETUS PHOEBE AND HYPERION CONFIRMED THE LIKENESS OF THE PHOEBE MATERIAL TO THAT OF THE IAPETUS LEADING HEMISPHERE. AN UNEXPECTED RESULT OF OUR STUDY (DALLE ORE ET AL 2012) IS THE SIMILARITY BETWEEN THE DARK MATERIAL ON THE TRAILING SIDE OF IAPETUS AND THAT AT THE BOTTOM OF THE DARK SUNCUPS ON HYPERION. A POSSIBLE EXPLANATION IS THAT THE MATERIAL MIGHT HAVE MIGRATED FROM ONE SATELLITE TO THE OTHER.
$624,613FY2020National Aeronautics and Space AdministrationNASA
Seti Institute, Mountain View CA