Aster › Space program › Pandora
Pandora
Position on the route: 50/130 · level needed 128 · journey (Mk0 engine) 24.6 h
By the numbers
| Size | ≈ 103 × 80 × 64 km |
|---|---|
| Year | 15.1 hours |
| Distance | 141,720 km |
| Found | 1980, Voyager 1 |
The story
Pandora is the outer shepherd of Saturn’s F ring: Prometheus bounds the inside and Pandora the outside, keeping the ring thin. It was found in Voyager 1’s 1980 images. About 81 km with a density of 0.5 g/cm³: very porous.
The surface is coated in ring dust and ice, and is fairly smooth. The gravity of Prometheus and Pandora makes knots and channels in the F ring; Cassini followed them step by step.
Missions
- Voyager 1 and 2: discovery
- Cassini (2004–2017): ring interactions
Colony note
Very close to the ring; an observation station.
What probes bring back
- The outer shepherd of the F ring; with Prometheus it keeps the ring narrow. About 81 km, density 0.5 g/cm³.
- Found in Voyager 1 images in 1980.