Saturn and Its Moons
SUMMARY of CASSINI - HUYGENS MISSION :
" Launched from Kennedy Space Center on Oct. 15, 1997, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft will reach the Saturnian region in July 2004. The mission is composed of two elements: The Cassini orbiter that will orbit Saturn and its moons for four years, and the Huygens probe that will dive into the murky atmosphere of Titan and land on its surface. The sophisticated instruments onboard these spacecraft will provide scientists with vital data to help understand this mysterious, vast region"."Cassini-Huygens is an international collaboration between three space agencies. Seventeen nations contributed to building the spacecraft. The Cassini orbiter was built and managed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory. The Huygens probe was built by the European Space Agency. The Italian Space agency provided Cassini's high-gain communication antenna. More than 200 scientists worldwide will study the data collected".
NASA----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Cassini spacecraft : (Target Saturn and its Moons) NASA's Cassini spacecraft is on its approach to Saturn. "The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C."
- Cassini is approximately 20 months away from its target, Saturn (as of November 2002)
- Two elements comprise the spacecraft: The Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe. In 2004, Cassini-Huygens is scheduled to reach Saturn and its moons. There the spacecraft will orbit around the system for four years; beaming home valuable data that will help us understand the vast Saturnian region. Huygens will enter the murky atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's biggest moon, and eventually descend via parachute onto its mysterious surface. JPL/ NASA
- 27 Nov 2002
Titan: A Moon of Saturn; to be Visited in 2004 + ; Huygens Probe, a portion of the Cassini - Huygens Space Craft, will land on the surface of Titan. Surface and Core attributes will be transmitted to Earth through the orbiting Cassini Orbitor.
Conditions on Titan
Long hailed as a
natural astrobiology laboratory, Saturn's
largest moon Titan is certainly on the minds of many
scientists today. This moon is the second largest in the
solar system (Jupiter's Ganymede is the largest); its
diameter is about 3200 miles (larger than the planet
Mercury), or approximately the distance across the United
States.
Titan is interesting because it is unique: it is the only
moon in the solar system known to have a thick
atmosphere. The composition of the atmosphere is largely
nitrogen (about 90%).
By comparison, Earth's atmosphere
has a nitrogen content of about 78%. There are also
smaller amounts of ethane and methane in Titan's
atmosphere; these molecules are created when energetic
ultraviolet light from the sun reacts with gasses (e.g.
ammonia) released from its interior.
Due to the very cold temperatures (about -290 degrees Fahrenheit!), scientists
believe that these molecules could exist in liquid form and
could thus drizzle out of the atmosphere onto the surface,
creating perhaps large lakes of methane and ethane.
Since Titan is so cold, it is devoid of the liquid water that
makes life possible here. Thus, scientists skeptical that we
will find life there, but they are just the same optimistic
about learning more about the pre-biotic chemistry that
might have occurred on our own planet.
Titan can be regarded as a time machine: it will allow researchers to
study the photochemistry and chemical reactions that were
possibly taking place on early Earth.
JPL / NASA27 Nov 2002
A very Special View of Saturn on 17 Dec 2002
"Thirty years ago, Earth and Saturn had an extraordinary close encounter. The ringed planet was only 1.2 billion km from Earth--about as close as it can get--and its rings were tipped toward us. The view through a telescope was simply breathtaking."
"Next week it's going to happen again."
"On Dec. 17th, Saturn and Earth will be unusually close together--about the same as thirty years ago," says NASA astronomer Mitzi Adams. And once again the planet's rings are tilted in our direction for maximum effect. "So get out your telescope," says Adams. "Even a small one will do."
"Above: Photographer Ed Grafton captured this image of Saturn from Houston, Texas, on Dec. 11, 2002. He used a 14-inch telescope and a CCD camera. [more]"
"Below: Saturn is "at opposition" when it and the sun are on opposite sides of Earth. The size of Earth's orbit is exaggerated for clarity. Saturn is 9 1/2 times farther from the sun than Earth."
"
Oppositions
of Saturn come every 13 months or so. This one is the best in nearly 30 years
because Saturn is also near perihelion--its closest approach to the sun.
Adams explains: "Saturn's 30-year orbit is not a perfect circle. It has the
shape of an ellipse with one side 6% closer to the sun than the other. When
Saturn is closer to the sun it's also closer to Earth ... and we get a great
view."
"Finding Saturn is easy, notes Adams. Look east after sunset. Saturn will be there, rising, among the bright stars of the constellation Taurus. Saturn is yellow in hue and doesn't twinkle like a star. It's one of the brightest objects in the winter evening sky. At midnight, adds Adams, Saturn will be almost directly overhead."
Go to Cassini Update page
Go to Space Craft by Name page.
Cassini Mission page
This page was last updated on 17 Dec 2007 01:05 AM CST U.S. (Note time will reflect CDT at the appropriate time of the year.)