Spacecraft
Cassini-Huygens was one of the most ambitious missions ever launched into space. Loaded with an array of powerful instruments and cameras, the spacecraft was capable of taking accurate measurements and detailed images in a variety of atmospheric conditions and light spectra.
The spacecraft was launched with two elements: the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe. Cassini-Huygens reached Saturn and its moons in July 2004, beaming home valuable data that transformed our understanding of the Saturnian system. Huygens entered the murky atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's biggest moon, and descended via parachute onto its surface - the most distant spacecraft landing to date.
Cassini-Huygens was a three-axis stabilized spacecraft equipped for 27 diverse science investigations. The Cassini orbiter had 12 instruments and the Huygens probe had six. Equipped to thoroughly investigate all the important elements that the Saturn system may uncover, many of the instruments had multiple functions. The spacecraft communicated through one high-gain and two-low gain antennas. It was only in the event of a power failure or other such emergency situation, however, that the spacecraft communicated through one of its low-gain antennas.
Three Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators – commonly referred to as RTGs – provided power for the spacecraft, including the instruments, computers, and radio transmitters on board, attitude thrusters, and reaction wheels.
In some ways, the Cassini spacecraft had senses better than our own. For example, Cassini could "see" in wavelengths of light and energy that the human eye cannot. The instruments on the spacecraft could "feel" things about magnetic fields and tiny dust particles that no human hand could detect.
The science instruments can be classified in a way that can be compared to how human senses operate. Your eyes and ears are "remote sensing" devices because you can receive information from remote objects without being in direct contact with them. Your senses of touch and taste are "direct sensing" devices. Your nose can be construed as either a remote or direct sensing device. You can certainly smell the apple pie across the room without having your nose in direct contact with it, but the molecules carrying the scent do have to make direct contact with your sinuses. Cassini's instruments can be classified as remote and microwave remote sensing instruments, and fields and particles instruments – these were all designed to record significant data and take a variety of close-up measurements.
The remote sensing instruments on the Cassini Spacecraft calculated measurements from a great distance. This set included both optical and microwave sensing instruments including cameras, spectrometers, radar and radio.
The fields and particles instruments took "in situ" (on site) direct sensing measurements of the environment around the spacecraft. These instruments measured magnetic fields, mass, electrical charges and densities of atomic particles. They also measured the quantity and composition of dust particles, the strengths of plasma (electrically charged gas), and radio waves.
About the Mission
Cassini was one of the most ambitious efforts ever mounted in planetary exploration. A joint endeavor of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian space agency (ASI), Cassini was a sophisticated robotic spacecraft sent to study Saturn and its complex system of rings and moons in unprecedented detail.
Cassini carried a probe called Huygens to the Saturn system. The probe, which was built by ESA, parachuted to the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, in January 2005—the most distant landing to date in our solar system. Huygens returned spectacular images and other science results during a two-and-a-half-hour descent through Titan’s hazy atmosphere, before coming to rest amid rounded cobbles of ice on a floodplain damp with liquid methane.
Cassini completed its initial four-year mission in June 2008 and earned two mission extensions that enabled the team to delve even deeper into Saturn’s mysteries. Key discoveries during its 13 years at Saturn included a global ocean with strong indications of hydrothermal activity within Enceladus, and liquid methane seas on Titan. The mission ended on Sept. 15, 2018.
Mission Science Objectives
Saturn—Study cloud properties and atmospheric composition, winds and temperatures, internal structure and rotation, ionosphere, origin and evolution
Rings—Observe their structure and composition, dynamical processes, interrelation of rings and satellites, dust and micrometeoroid environment
Titan—Study abundances of atmospheric constituents, distribution of trace gases and aerosols, winds and temperatures, composition and state of the surface, and upper atmosphere
Icy Satellites—etermine their characteristics and geological histories; study mechanisms of surface modification, surface composition and distribution, overall composition and internal structure, and their interactions with Saturn’s magnetosphere
Saturn’s Magnetosphere—Study its structure and electric currents; composition, sources and sinks of particles within it; dynamics; interaction with solar wind, satellites and rings; Titan’s interaction with solar wind and magnetosphere
The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft during vibration and thermal testing in 1996.
Spacecraft
Cassini-Huygens was one of the most ambitious missions ever launched into space. Loaded with an array of powerful instruments and cameras, the spacecraft was capable of taking accurate measurements and detailed images in a variety of atmospheric conditions and light spectra.
The spacecraft was launched with two elements: the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe. Cassini-Huygens reached Saturn and its moons in July 2004, beaming home valuable data that transformed our understanding of the Saturnian system. Huygens entered the murky atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's biggest moon, and descended via parachute onto its surface - the most distant spacecraft landing to date.
Cassini-Huygens was a three-axis stabilized spacecraft equipped for 27 diverse science investigations. The Cassini orbiter had 12 instruments and the Huygens probe had six. Equipped to thoroughly investigate all the important elements that the Saturn system may uncover, many of the instruments had multiple functions. The spacecraft communicated through one high-gain and two-low gain antennas. It was only in the event of a power failure or other such emergency situation, however, that the spacecraft communicated through one of its low-gain antennas.
Three Radioisotope Thermoelectric Generators – commonly referred to as RTGs – provided power for the spacecraft, including the instruments, computers, and radio transmitters on board, attitude thrusters, and reaction wheels.
In some ways, the Cassini spacecraft had senses better than our own. For example, Cassini could "see" in wavelengths of light and energy that the human eye cannot. The instruments on the spacecraft could "feel" things about magnetic fields and tiny dust particles that no human hand could detect.
The science instruments can be classified in a way that can be compared to how human senses operate. Your eyes and ears are "remote sensing" devices because you can receive information from remote objects without being in direct contact with them. Your senses of touch and taste are "direct sensing" devices. Your nose can be construed as either a remote or direct sensing device. You can certainly smell the apple pie across the room without having your nose in direct contact with it, but the molecules carrying the scent do have to make direct contact with your sinuses. Cassini's instruments can be classified as remote and microwave remote sensing instruments, and fields and particles instruments – these were all designed to record significant data and take a variety of close-up measurements.
The remote sensing instruments on the Cassini Spacecraft calculated measurements from a great distance. This set included both optical and microwave sensing instruments including cameras, spectrometers, radar and radio.
The fields and particles instruments took "in situ" (on site) direct sensing measurements of the environment around the spacecraft. These instruments measured magnetic fields, mass, electrical charges and densities of atomic particles. They also measured the quantity and composition of dust particles, the strengths of plasma (electrically charged gas), and radio waves.
About the Mission
Cassini was one of the most ambitious efforts ever mounted in planetary exploration. A joint endeavor of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian space agency (ASI), Cassini was a sophisticated robotic spacecraft sent to study Saturn and its complex system of rings and moons in unprecedented detail.
Cassini carried a probe called Huygens to the Saturn system. The probe, which was built by ESA, parachuted to the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, in January 2005—the most distant landing to date in our solar system. Huygens returned spectacular images and other science results during a two-and-a-half-hour descent through Titan’s hazy atmosphere, before coming to rest amid rounded cobbles of ice on a floodplain damp with liquid methane.
Cassini completed its initial four-year mission in June 2008 and earned two mission extensions that enabled the team to delve even deeper into Saturn’s mysteries. Key discoveries during its 13 years at Saturn included a global ocean with strong indications of hydrothermal activity within Enceladus, and liquid methane seas on Titan. The mission ended on Sept. 15, 2018.
Mission Science Objectives
Saturn—Study cloud properties and atmospheric composition, winds and temperatures, internal structure and rotation, ionosphere, origin and evolution
Rings—Observe their structure and composition, dynamical processes, interrelation of rings and satellites, dust and micrometeoroid environment
Titan—Study abundances of atmospheric constituents, distribution of trace gases and aerosols, winds and temperatures, composition and state of the surface, and upper atmosphere
Icy Satellites—etermine their characteristics and geological histories; study mechanisms of surface modification, surface composition and distribution, overall composition and internal structure, and their interactions with Saturn’s magnetosphere
Saturn’s Magnetosphere—Study its structure and electric currents; composition, sources and sinks of particles within it; dynamics; interaction with solar wind, satellites and rings; Titan’s interaction with solar wind and magnetosphere