Pasadena, CA, July 01, 2004--The international Cassini-Huygens mission has successfully entered orbit around Saturn. At 9:12 p.m. PDT on Wednesday, flight controllers received confirmation that Cassini had completed the engine burn needed to place the spacecraft into the correct orbit. This begins a four-year study of the giant planet, its majestic rings (seen here close-up as Cassini entered orbit) and 31 known moons.
The Cassini orbiter itself has 12 instruments, while the Huygens probe has six. Of these 18, five are optical. Cassini's instuments include the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS, will provide the sweeping photos of the planet and its moons), the Visual and Infrared Imaging Spectrometer (VIMS), the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS), and the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS). The lone optical instrument on the Huygens probe is the Descent Imager/Spectral Radiometer (DISR).
Dr. Charles Elachi, JPL director and team leader on the radar instrument onboard Cassini, said, "It feels awfully good to be in orbit around the lord of the rings. This is the result of 22 years of effort, of commitment, of ingenuity, and that's what exploration is all about."
The mission will face a second big challenge in December, when the spacecraft will release the piggybacked Huygens probe--provided by the European Space Agency (ESA)--which will plunge through the hazy atmosphere of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The ESA probe will image the moon's surface, horizon, and cloud deck during its descent, as well as chemically analyze the atmosphere and aerosols.
"This was America's night. This was NASA doing it right," said Dr. David Southwood, director of scientific programs for the ESA. "They really gave those of us in Europe a challenge. We've got six months to go until we land on Titan. We're just praying that everything will go as well."
Saturn is the sixth planet from the Sun. It is the second largest planet in our solar system, after Jupiter. The planet and ring system serve as a miniature model of the disc of gas and dust surrounding our early Sun that eventually formed the planets. Detailed knowledge of the dynamics of interactions among Saturn's elaborate rings and numerous moons will provide valuable data for understanding how each of the solar system's planets evolved.
Cassini traveled nearly 3.5 billion kilometers (2.2 billion miles) to reach Saturn after its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla., on Oct. 15, 1997. During Cassini's four-year mission, it will execute 52 close encounters with seven of Saturn's 31 known moons.