About

Between 2004 and 2017, with the support of the French Space Agency (CNES), the Laboratoire de Planétologie et Géosciences (LPG) of Nantes planned Titan's observations by the Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) (image size, mosaics, exposure time…). This instrument onboard the Cassini spacecraft is a key tool to analyze the geology of Titan and Saturn's icy moons (e.g. impact craters, montains, dunes, clouds, rivers…). During the 13 years of the Cassini mission, it also revealed the seasonal evolution of Titan with a high level of details.

In this website, you will find the complete dataset of VIMS spectral cubes on Saturn's moons illustrated by multispectral previews. In order to make use of these data more easily, you can download directly the raw and calibrated VIMS cubes.

If you use this website for your research, please cite Le Mouélic et al. (2019) - Icarus and if you used the VIMS previews from this website, please add the following credit line: Courtesy: NASA/Caltech-JPL/University of Arizona/LPG Nantes.

Additionally information on Titan cube post-processing are presented in this publication:

doi: 10.1016/j.icarus.2018.09.017 arxiv: 1809.06545

More details on the VIMS instrument can be found in the following publication:

The Cassini Visual And Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) Investigation
Brown et al., 2004 in Space Science Reviews vol. 115, 1-4, pp 111–168.
doi: 10.1007/s11214-004-1453-x

The complete USGS-ISIS3 pipeline used is calibrated the Cassini-VIMS data on this website is detailed here.

Comments or feedbacks are welcome.

Image policy

Unless otherwise noted, images and video on VIMS Data Portal public website may be used for any purpose without prior permission, subject to the special cases noted below. Publishers who wish to have authorization may print this page and retain it for their records; VIMS Data Portal website does not issue image permissions on an image by image basis.

By electing to download the material from this web site the user agrees:

  • that LPG Nantes makes no representations or warranties with respect to ownership of copyrights in the images, and does not represent others who may claim to be authors or owners of copyright of any of the images, and makes no warranties as to the quality of the images. LPG Nantes shall not be responsible for any loss or expenses resulting from the use of the images, and you release and hold LPG Nantes harmless from all liability arising from such use.
  • to use a credit line in connection with images. Unless otherwise noted in the caption information for an image, the credit line should be Courtesy: NASA/Caltech-JPL/University of Arizona/LPG Nantes.
  • that the endorsement of any product or service by LPG Nantes, VIMS Data Portal website must not be claimed or implied.

Special Cases:

  • Prior written approval must be obtained to use the LPG/OSUNA/GeoPlanet/Nantes University/CNRS insignia logos. These images may not be used by persons who are not LPG/OSUNA/GeoPlanet/Nantes University/CNRS employees or on products (including web pages) that are not sponsored by the LPG Nantes. In addition, no image may be used to explicitly or implicitly suggest endorsement by LPG Nantes or VIMS Data Portal website of commercial goods or services. Requests to use LPG Nantes logos may be directed to the LPG Nantes.
  • If an image includes an identifiable person, using the image for commercial purposes may infringe that person's right of privacy or publicity, and permission should be obtained from the person. LPG Nantes and VIMS Data Portal website generally do not permit likenesses of current employees to appear on commercial products. For more information, consult the LPG Nantes and VIMS Data Portal website points of contact listed above.
  • LPG Nantes contractors and vendors who wish to use VIMS Data Portal website images in advertising or public relation materials should direct contact us.
  • Some image and video materials on VIMS Data Portal website public web sites are owned by organizations other than VIMS Data Portal website or LPG Nantes. These owners have agreed to make their images and video available for journalistic, educational and personal uses, but restrictions are placed on commercial uses. To obtain permission for commercial use, contact the copyright owner listed in each image caption. Ownership of images and video by parties other than VIMS Data Portal website and LPG Nantes is noted in the caption material with each image.