Impacts and cratering on Titan: a pre-Cassini view

Titan is an outstanding object in terms of its usefulness for comparative planetology. While essentially an icy giant satellite like Ganymede and Callisto, its thick atmosphere makes it a very different place. Also, while Titanʹs thermal history may have similarities with Ganymede and Callisto, Titanʹs much larger distance from its primary and from the sun profoundly affects impactor speed distributions and gravitational focusing. The likely characteristics of the impact crater population on Titan are reviewed under two board categories: number and spatial distribution, and morphology, with particular emphasis on impact-atmosphere interactions. Additionally, measurement prospects for Cassini are considered.