A new era of exploration is on the horizon with missions such as the James Webb Space Telescope and the JUpiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE), focusing on the enigmatic icy moons within our solar system. Previous missions, like the Cassini-Huygens mission, have provided an invaluable wealth of data regarding Saturnian moons, shedding light on their intricate characteristics. However, despite past studies, a clear link between various surface-altering processes—such as E-ring bombardment, meteoroid impacts, photolysis, dark material, plasma, and energetic electron bombardment—and terrain features has not been fully explored.

This investigation employs the Hapke photometric model to fit the reflectance spectra of the icy moons by using a Least Squares Method algorithm. A novel validation approach is followed by utilizing experimental data obtained from crushed ice particles sourced from the Solid Spectroscopy Hosting Architecture of Databases and Expertise (SSHADE). Additionally, this data serves as a testing ground for innovative techniques in estimating crystallinity based on the 2- and 1.65-micron absorbance features of water ice.

By using data from Cassini's Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS), this thesis delves into the characteristics of the icy regolith on moons such as Rhea, Dione, and Enceladus. The analysis encompasses three studies: well-resolved terrain units, variations across an entire moon following their longitudinal lines, and a comparative examination of primary regions affected by various exogenic processes between the different moons.

The results of this study underscore the distinct impacts of each process on the icy regolith. In conclusion, by observing surface features such as grain sizes, crystallinity and surface roughness, it is possible to determine which processes are dominating on the moon's surface. Knowing how these characteristics evolve with time, such observations could also be used to determine (relative) ages of the surface's features.