A New Dust Model for the Saturnian System: Preliminary results

The Saturnian system with its extended ring system is a prime target for cosmic dust research. Dusty rings are fed by a variety of processes and form a complex dust environment: in the case of the E ring, ice volcanism on Enceladus acts as its source, but dust particles  are also generated on other moons by the impact ejecta mechanism.

The ESA activity for a hazard model of the distribution of dust in the Saturnian system is coming to a conclusion and we give an overview of the results as well as the applicability to future space missions. We also highlight new results that are interesting from a scientific point of view, such as redistribution of surface material among Saturn's moons.

The Saturn Dust model traces test particles from source to sink, ejected in the plumes of Enceladus feeding the E ring, and from impact ejecta processes
generating a low number of particles from other airless bodies. Their trajectories are numerically integrated taking into account all relevant forces and mechanisms, i.e. gravity, radiation pressure, Lorentz force, plasma drag, electric charging in the plasma environment, and sputtering. 

We give an overview over our simulation results, and give a preview of the GUI tool facilitating the use of the model. We discuss the calibration using existing observations, based predominantly on results from the Cassini mission, and we show the dynamical phenomena associated with dust in this environment reproduced by our model.