gov. Grand Finale Overview After two decades in space, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft ended its remarkable journey of exploration with a grand finale. A Mollweide projection of the first global geologic map of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, is based on radar and visible and infrared images from NASA's Cassini mission, which orbited Saturn from 2004 to 2017. When Cassini arrived, it was processed in three or four different facilities at Kennedy. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has obtained new, detailed images of the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus. 5 billion kilometers. (Click image to see higher-resolution version) NASA / JPL-Caltech / ASU. After 20 years in space — 13 of those years. The gravitational data from Cassini tells us that this kind of rotation extends down to a depth of about 6,200 miles (10,000 kilometers), indicating that Saturn’s atmosphere is deep, complex. ORIGINAL CAPTION: Workers begin unloading the Cassini orbiter from a U. One of the pinnacles of that has been the. May 2, 2012. Gian Domenico Cassini, (born June 8, 1625, Perinaldo, Republic of Genoa [Italy]—died September 14, 1712, Paris, France), Italian-born French astronomer who, among others, discovered the Cassini Division, the dark gap between the rings A and B of Saturn; he also discovered four of Saturn’s moons. NASA's. And the Titan IV rocket was a pretty new vehicle to the organization at the time. It was named for Giovanni Cassini, a 17th-century astronomer who was the first to observe four of Saturn's moons. It is larger than Earth’s moon and even planet Mercury. From our planet's perspective, that means Saturn's rings may have formed during the age of. 28, in the mission’s deepest-ever dive through the moon’s active plume of icy material. The Titan Saturn System Mission (TSSM) was a joint NASA / ESA proposal for an exploration of Saturn and its moons [7] Titan and Enceladus, where many complex phenomena have been revealed by the recent Cassini–Huygens mission. several months as it flies by Jupiter. New data from NASA’s Cassini mission, combined with measurements from the two Voyager spacecraft and NASA’s Interstellar Boundary Explorer, or IBEX, suggests that our sun and planets are surrounded by a giant, rounded system of magnetic field from the sun — calling into question the alternate view of the solar. All of the eleven onboard instruments operated as expected and all data was acquired. 8-meter) NASA-built orbiter. Scientists plan to use the data to create global maps of the cratered moon, and to determine Phoebe's composition, mass and density. 7, 1610, Italian astronomer Galileo Galilei noticed three other points of light near the planet, at first believing them to be distant stars. NASA's Cassini spacecraft will make an unprecedented "in your face" flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus on Wed. Cassini is in good health. Cassini landed the Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan and sensed. Underlying the arrows is a base. Cassini will carry an ESA- built probe to parachute to the surface of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Highlights. "Fly me to the moon" -- to Saturn's moon Titan, that is. PASADENA, Calif. m. As Cassini entered the realm of Saturn, the spacecraft passed within 1,300 miles (2,100 kilometers) of. 2007. On 14 January 2005, at 13:34 CET (12:34 UTC), ESA's Huygens probe entered the history books by descending to the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. NASA's Cassini spacecraft will zip past Saturn's moon Dione on Monday, Aug. Cassni’s final journey in local AEST times. The Voyager I and Voyager II encounters in 1980 and 1981 validated Cassini’s original observations and explanation with images showing the. Explanation: Was Saturn's moon Phoebe once a comet? Images from the robotic Cassini spacecraft taken two weeks ago when entering the neighborhood of Saturn indicate that Phoebe may have originated in the outer Solar System. 1. NASA built the. This is Cassini's fourth close flyby of Rhea. gov. time zones), and orbited the planet, studying its famous rings and family of intriguing moons. EDT). The Soviets struck first, flying Luna 1 by the moon in January 1959. They deduced that if Titan were composed entirely of stiff rock, the gravitational attraction of Saturn. The study of Titan, Saturn's largest moon, is one of the major goals of the Cassini-Huygens mission. Cassini-Huygens was a mission of firsts. 1. It measures 6. View of Saturn from Cassini, taken in March 2004, shortly before the spacecraft's orbital insertion in July 2004. Galileo and Cassini Image Two Giant Plumes on Io Full Resolution:. Working in the 1670s, Cassini used a telescope to make careful observations of the moon’s pock-marked surface. The National Aeronautics and Space. Each of Cassini’s […] NASA's Cassini spacecraft has obtained new, detailed images of the south polar region of Saturn's moon Enceladus. Idaho. 33 microns; the filter. 1. Facts to help you understand what Cassini's upcoming Enceladus flyby is all about. This unprocessed image of Saturn's moon Titan was captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its final close flyby of the hazy, planet-sized moon on April 21, 2017. NASA's Cassini spacecraft has documented the formation of a small icy object within the rings of Saturn that may be a new moon, and may also provide clues to. The Paris Observatory's original print of Cassini's 1679 Large map of the Moon was displayed along with two of the drawings by Sébastien Leclerc and Jean Patigny at a. "The Cassini operations team did an absolutely stellar job guiding the spacecraft to its noble end," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at JPL. Scientists have created the first global. Before Cassini, we had only brief glimpses of the discoveries awaiting us at Saturn. The 80 millisecond exposure was taken through a spectral filter centered at 0. Here are some of the bestFriday morning (Sept. Part of the Cassini team's job is to pick which image targets will yield the best science results. m. 2014-103. 5 billion km at the. The Aug. This week, we look at 10 aspects of real-life space travel that Clarke predicted, popularized or influenced. The Huygens probe landed in the small red circle on the boundary of the bright and dark regions. Cassini will fly by Saturn's largest outer moon, Phoebe, on Friday, June 11. "The Cassini operations team did an absolutely stellar job guiding the spacecraft to its noble end," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at JPL. 19, at 9:49 a. Pacific Daylight Time (03:28 Universal Time August 18). c. Ten years ago today, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft gently pulled into orbit around the ringed planet. NASA. Aeronautics and Space Administration’s (NASA’s) Cassini orbiter, which was the first space probe to orbit Saturn, and the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe, which landed on Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. The imaging team is based at the. Kuiper made the discovery by passing sunlight reflected. Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, offered tantalizing hints that it, too, could help us understand whether life could have evolved elsewhere. Among Cassini’s objectives was the study of Saturn’s rings, Titan’s atmosphere, and the behavior of Saturn’s magnetosphere. Arrived at Saturn: July 2004. Giovanni [a] Domenico Cassini, also known as Jean-Dominique Cassini (8 June 1625 – 14 September 1712) was an Italian (naturalised French) [1] mathematician, astronomer and engineer. At launch the spacecraft had a mass of 5,655 kg, of which 3,132 kg were propellant. 4 times Earth’s size. The. This begins a four-year study of the giant planet, its majestic rings and 31 known moons. Many lessons learned during Cassini's mission are being applied to planning NASA's Europa Clipper mission, planned for launch in the 2020s. May 19 – New moon. Now, NASA is preparing to send the drone-like spacecraft Dragonfly to dig further into a world that has become one of the most important targets of exploration. This mosaic, created from images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its closest flyby of Saturn's moon Mimas, looks straight at the moon's Herschel Crater and reveals new insights about the moon's surface. Download. This image has not been validated or calibrated. Here are 10 reasons why Cassini mattered. 15, 2017. If Pan's orbit remains eccentric due to this interaction, then planets growing in a disc of material surrounding a. My favorite theory is that NASA faked the moon landing, meaning they’ve. S. Europa orbits Jupiter at about 417,000 miles (671,000 kilometers) from the planet, which itself orbits the Sun at a distance of roughly 500 million miles (780 million kilometers), or 5. Researchers found the magnitude of the moon's very slight wobble, as it orbits Saturn, can only be accounted for if its outer ice. Cassini Mission Status Report. The 80 millisecond exposure was taken through a spectral filter centered at 0. The process is called an “occultation” because the object in the background (in this case a star) is “occulted” (hidden) by an object in the. It’s the only moon in the solar system known to have a dense atmosphere, and a global haze hides its surface from view. Launching in 2026, this space telescope will look back in time with even greater detail, targeting areas. Dennis Matson, Cassini project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. time zones) Cassini will release the wok-shaped Huygens probe on its journey toward Titan. S. The spacecraft flew about 1,640 kilometers (1,000 miles) from Iapetus. 15, 1997, and spent seven years looping around the solar system before it finally reached its destination. ENLARGE. Giovanni [a] Domenico Cassini, also known as Jean-Dominique Cassini (8 June 1625 – 14 September 1712) was an Italian (naturalised French) [1] mathematician, astronomer and engineer. At closet approach Cassini will be 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the surface, while flying through the plume Cassini's altitude will be 200 kilometers (120) miles from the moon. The Story Timeline Cassini’s exploration of Saturn spans decades. The data for the study come from a legendary NASA mission back in 2008, when the space agency's legendary Cassini probe dove through jets of icy water vapor, gases, and organic material that. 2007. Kepler-22b is the first planet in a confirmed orbit in a star's habitable zone – the region around a star where liquid water could persist on its surface. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild frontiers of our solar system. From instantaneous global communications, to a flyby of Saturn's moon Iapetus, to the detection of a mysterious visitor from beyond the solar system, much of Clarke's imagined space technology has become real-life magic. Orientation is maintained through the use of either three reaction wheel assemblies. + Full image and caption. On its recent close flyby of Mimas, the Cassini spacecraft found the Saturnian moon looking battered and bruised, with a surface that may be the most heavily cratered in the Saturn system. m. m. Solar eclipses occur when the Sun, the Moon, and Earth align. The Cassini Orbiter's mission consists of delivering a probe (called Huygens, provided by ESA) to Titan, and then remaining in orbit around Saturn for detailed studies of the planet and its rings and. From 2004 to 2007, Cassini made several flybys of Jupiter, providing new insights into the gas giant’s. Watch live on September 15 at 7 a. The new flyover maps show, for the first time, the 3-D topography and height of the 1,200-meter (4,000-foot) mountain tops, the north polar lake country, the vast dunes more than 100. m. This project was based on the meridian, or north-south line, on which the chief instrument of the Paris Observatory. Exoplanet Exploration Program. And NASA may get an even closer look at the icy moon. As NASA’s Cassini dove close to Saturn in its final year, the spacecraft provided intricate detail. 376 MB) JPEG (57. org. PDT (3:04 p. “Oh, and the targets they want to see are moving. Cassini will wrap up its time in the region of Saturn’s large, icy moons with a series of three close encounters with Enceladus, which started on Wednesday, Oct. Cassini has been exploring Saturn and its moons since 2004. Dive deep into the journey with this interactive [email protected] is scheduled to make a close flyby of Enceladus on Oct. Here we see Cassini descending toward the gap between Saturn and its rings. , March 12, flying about 15 kilometers per second (32,000 mph) through icy water geyser-like jets. Before NASA's Pioneer 10 spacecraft successfully passed through the. The flyby gave Cassini a 5. 12, Chandrayaan-1’s orbit was reduced gradually so that it ended up finally in its operational polar orbit at about 62 miles (100 kilometers) above the lunar surface. NASA's Cassini spacecraft successfully completed a course adjustment April 3 during its journey toward Saturn. Oct 01, 1997. Data from Cassini and Huygens may offer clues. From its orbit, the theoretical moon would have contributed to Saturn’s odd tilt. Cassini will approach on Jupiter's sunlit side, then move away on the dark side of the planet. NASA’s Cassini spacecraft and ESA’s Huygens probe expanded our understanding of the kinds of worlds where life might exist. Seven rings of ice and rock particles with 31 known moons. These missions shed new light on Saturn’s complicated ring system, discovered new moons and made the first measurements of. NASA/JPL. With the shocking launch of Sputnik 1 in October 1957, the moon changed from a distant silver disk in the sky to a real place, a probable destination for probes and people. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild frontiers of our solar system. 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. We have learned and discovered more things about a previously unknown dynamic system--a system that's a billion miles from us: the Saturn system--than we ever could have imagined. Although Titan and Enceladus are the most tantalizing of Saturn's moons, Cassini has revealed strange and marvelous facts about many of the gas giant's 62. 16, 2004. Earthlings bid farewell to the Cassini spacecraft tonight as the. nasa. Here are five reasons Titan is so enticing: Dragonfly is a NASA mission to explore the chemistry and habitability of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Overview: Cassini at Titan Until the Cassini mission, little was known about Saturn’s largest moon Titan, save that it was a Mercury-sized world whose surface was veiled beneath a thick, nitrogen-rich atmosphere. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild. preston. nasa. The new results from Cassini show that the heliosheath is about 40 to 50 astronomical units (3. brown@nasa. The data for the study come from a legendary NASA mission back in 2008, when the space agency's legendary Cassini probe dove through jets of icy water vapor, gases, and organic material that. On Dec. 14, 1959, the Explorer 6 satellite took the first photograph of Earth from orbit, but the image lacked detail. Illustration showing Cassini's dive through the plume of Saturn's moon Enceladus, in 2015. Between lunar orbit insertion Nov. On April 21, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft paid its final visit to Saturn’s largest moon, swooping roughly 600 miles above Titan’s haze-wrapped surface. Cassini's closest approach, within 295 miles (474 kilometers) of Dione's surface, will occur at 11:33 a. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for the agency’s Science Mission Directorate. The map was just published as part of a paper in the journal Icarus. c. m. This is an artist's concept of Saturn's rings and major icy moons. edu. Enceladus’ water plumes shoot water vapour and tiny. 1. m. Over its 100-day lifespan, the rover will have a main goal to collect data for NASA to map out the moon's water resources. Estimated Earth Received Time (ERT) was 5:09 a. Unsuccessful; flew past Moon. <p>Saturn's icy moon Enceladus sinks behind the planet in a farewell portrait from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which destroyed itself by diving into the ringed giant on September 15, 2017. From edge-to-edge, the ring system would not even fit in the distance between Earth and the Moon. When Cassini arrived at Saturn in 2004, the instrument helped scientists quickly discover what appeared to be an ice volcano on the moon Titan and fresh ice along the “tiger stripe” fractures on the moon Enceladus. This latest report adds the detail of the rocky sea floor, which is significant because the contact. COMPLETED: Orbit 280 - June 20 - 26. Cassini's second close flyby of Titan completes a 'before' and 'after' look. Phoebe was the first of Cassini's many moon flybys. Cassini gathered data before and during a distant flyby of the orange moon yesterday. Minutes later, the missile came crashing back down and slammed into the ground at more than 340 mph, but the film survived and gave us our first glimpse of Earth from space. Minutes later, the missile came crashing back down and slammed into the ground at more than 340 mph, but the film survived and gave us our first glimpse of Earth from space. This graphic summarizes Cassini's 13 years orbiting Saturn, with moon flybys grouped into columns for each phase of the mission. Dive deep into the journey with this interactive timeline. Cassini set off for Saturn on Oct. Skip Navigation. Brian Bell. Cassini's Wild Ring Ride. ENTER The Story Timeline Cassini’s exploration of Saturn spans decades. Cassini's narrow-angle camera recorded this view on April 15, 2013. While Cassini remains at a respectful distance to avoid the planet's hazardous radiation belts, Galileo will loop around Jupiter on a highly elliptical (egg-shaped) orbit, passing close to Jupiter's largest moon, Ganymede, on 29 December. Since 2008, NASA has granted the mission three extensions, allowing scientists an unprecedented opportunity to observe seasonal changes as the planet and its retinue. On Saturday morning, the spacecraft, which has been circling Saturn and its environs for the last 13 years, will skim over the. Experience InSight. When was the first successful American satellite launched? Vanguard. Other articles where Cassini is discussed: Cassini-Huygens:. 6 billion kilometers) — roughly equal to the distance from Earth to Saturn — and yet the spacecraft was now so close to Earth that it was visible at night. Pioneer 11 (1979), Voyager 1 (1980) and Voyager 2 (1981) had flown by Saturn earlier, not stopping but giving us the opportunity to. This article provides a timeline of the Cassini–Huygens mission. A validated/calibrated image will be archived with the NASA Planetary Data System in. "From designing the trajectory seven years ago, to navigating through the 22 nail-biting plunges between Saturn and its rings, this is a crack shot group of scientists and engineers that. After Cassini was placed in a parking orbit around Earth, a Centaur upper stage fired to send. The Imaging. The $3. Future passes will include images from near closest approach, including some of the closest-ever views of the outer rings and small moons that orbit there. The instrument also found carbon dioxide ice on Phoebe, a small moon very distant from Saturn. Cassini Jupiter. From some Southern U. NASA/JPL-Caltech. The new maps of Saturn's moons, which were created by Paul Schenk of the Lunar and Planetary Institute in Houston using data gathered by NASA's Cassini spacecraft over the past 10 years, shine a. 2 billion Cassini-Huygens mission — a joint effort of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency — launched in October 1997 and arrived in the Saturn system on June 30. When did Cassini launch and why is it ending now? On Oct. Solar System Exploration Our Galactic Neighborhood. This set of enhanced-color maps made from data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft show Saturn's moons Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione and Rhea. Cassini then moved on to. According to a NASA press release, scientists reviewing data from the agency's Cassini mission, which. Huygens touched down on the moon on January 14, 2005, and became the first robotic explorer to land on an outer solar system body. This picture is a composite of 30 images from ESA's Huygens probe. Earthlings bid farewell to the Cassini spacecraft tonight as the Saturn-bound mission successfully completed a highly accurate pass of Earth at 8:28 p. Using data from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, scientists have created the first global topographic map of Saturn's moon Titan, giving researchers a 3-D tool for learning more about one of the most Earthlike and interesting worlds in the solar system. The Moon as Seen from Cassini. Cassini Jupiter. Cassini is three-axis stabilized. m. </p> Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech. On June 30, 2004 (PDT), as mission controllers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory held their collective breath, the international Cassini-Huygens mission successfully arrived in orbit around Saturn. 9 billion. 24 in U. The estimations fit with current knowledge of the moon – that its polar regions are "lower". Cassini Mission Overview. Saturn's rings make up an enormous, complex structure. Interact and deploy the InSight lander on Mars. Cassini-Huygens data also revealed that that Titan could have reserves of liquid water, similar to those on Jupiter’s moon Europa, trapped beneath its frigid surface. NASA's Cassini spacecraft recently captured images of clouds moving across the northern hydrocarbon seas of Saturn's moon Titan. The spacecraft burned up in a patch of Saturn sky at 9. The Cassini orbiter weighed 4,685 pounds (2,125 kilograms). belt. m. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech) The discovery has implications beyond Enceladus' corner in the solar system. 818-354-7013 preston. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. 5 billion kilometers) away. 9 billion. The spacecraft snatched up precious samples that might point to a water ocean or organics inside the little moon. Orbiting the ringed planet Saturn and its numerous moons, the Cassini spacecraft had been a keystone of exploration of the Saturnian system and the properties of gaseous planets in our solar system. The Cassini spacecraft undertook an extensive exploration of the Saturnian system with its. NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured the color images of Earth and the moon from its perch in the Saturn system nearly 900 million miles (1. EDT, when radio signals from Cassini came to an abrupt halt. NASA/ESA/W. Here are only 10 of the many mysteries scientists are working to solve: An illustration of Saturn's rings and major icy moons. Like the ancient cartographers of old, scientists working with images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft of Saturn's icy airless moons have carefully crafted detailed maps that one day may guide future explorers across the surfaces of these remote bodies. Notable Accomplishments: Deployed the Huygens Probe into Titan's atmosphere. Spinnable maps of the. Official website of the Cassini Imaging Team and the Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations (CICLOPS), the center of uplink and downlink imaging science operations and where Saturn system images were collected, processed, archived, and posted for the scientific community and the public during Cassini's 20 years in flight. CIRS was special because it was sensitive to invisible heat rays, or infrared light, rather than ordinary visible light. NASA's Cassini spacecraft obtained this unprocessed image on Dec. Cassini revealed the dramatic truth: Enceladus is an active moon that hides a global ocean of liquid salty water beneath its crust. 1. News Media Contact. On Oct. 15, 2017, returning science data to the very end. 10 flyby. m. 2 million kilometers) – that’s 1,000 times farther away. -- For the first time, scientists working on NASA's Cassini mission have detected sodium salts in ice grains of Saturn's outermost ring. Europa Clipper will fly by the icy ocean moon dozens of. 4 million miles (2. Estimates as far out as 2030 had been suggested. Saturn's icy moon Enceladus sinks behind the planet in a farewell portrait from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which destroyed itself by diving. The mission is scheduled to end in September 2017. Cassini’s name adorned the mission’s 22-foot-long (6. nasa. NASA Cassini Images May Reveal Birth of a Saturn Moon. Built and operated by the European Space Agency (ESA), launched by NASA, it was part of the Cassini–Huygens mission and became the first spacecraft to land on Titan and the farthest landing from Earth a. The point I want to highlight here is that Cassini will break apart like any fast-moving object during re-entry. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild frontiers of our solar system. Scientists believe the geysers could. When the Moon is within the umbra, it will turn a reddish hue. This final close flyby of Titan provides Cassini with its longest-duration RADAR observation to look for changes in Titan’s methane lakes and seas, as well as its first attempt to study the. 11 June 2004 – Cassini flew by the moon Phoebe at 19:33 UT in Spacecraft Event Time at 2068 kilometers distance. The flybys on this particular Cassini road trip were "non-targeted" flybys, meaning navigators did not refine Cassini's path to fly over particular points on each moon. r. The journey to Saturn took an arduous seven years and covered 3. The $3. What country launched the first satellite? January 31, 1958. Launched in 1997 with the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Huygens probe, Cassini was the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn. One of the most ambitious planetary projects ever attempted, Cassini-Huygens was managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. From 1671 to 1674, Giovanni Cassini discovered the moons lapetus, Rhea,. In addition to casting a breathtaking, passing shadow over the heads of millions of people, this total solar eclipse gives scientists a unique opportunity to study the Sun, Earth, and their interactions. The Cassini orbiter would ultimately circle Saturn 294 times between when it arrived at the gas giant in July. New Titan movies and images are providing a bird's-eye view of the moon's Earth-like landscapes. M. 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. Iapetus (/ aɪ ˈ æ p ə t ə s /) is a moon of Saturn. Scientists and engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory received confirmation of the spacecraft's demise as expected at 7:55 a. 7 metres (22 feet) long and 4 metres (13 feet) wide. Cassini was a collaboration between the United States' NASA, the European Space Agency ("ESA"), and the Italian Space Agency ("ASI") to send a. The image, first in a series of images and other measurements of Jupiter which Cassini will be making over the next. 8 and Nov. PST (12:49 p. New Titan movies and images are providing a bird's-eye view of the moon's Earth-like landscapes. Pioneer 11 and Voyagers 1 and 2 conducted flybys decades earlier, taking pictures, measurements and observations as they zoomed past. In addition, he was the first to record observations of. 15, 1997, a rocket launched the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens moon lander into space where, in 2004, the two separated for their. Arrival at the planet is expected to occur around July 1, 2004. 0:31. The key puzzle piece was a data set from Cassini's Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS), which collected light visible to the human eye and also infrared light of longer wavelengths. Cassini's long weekend started on Thursday, Oct. Despite being Saturn's third-largest moon, Iapetus orbits much farther from Saturn than its next closest major satellite (Titan). The camera was pointing toward Saturn's moon Dione from approximately 69,989 miles (112,636 kilometers) away. Our scientists and far-ranging robots explore the wild frontiers of our solar system. Europa Clipper will make dozens of flybys of Jupiter's ocean moon to investigate its possible habitability, using an orbital tour design derived from the way Cassini explored Saturn. m. Cassini and ESA’s Huygens probe expanded our understanding of the kinds of worlds where life might exist. and Canada. Then, around 160 million years ago, if the moon had flown too close to the planet and been torn apart, its icy. 15, burned up in Saturn's atmosphere. Using a special spectral filter, Cassini was able to peer through. The mission is scheduled to end in September 2017. Cassini captures the first high-resolution glimpse of the bright trailing hemisphere of Saturn's moon Iapetus. m. gov. Listen Now! A conversation with three members of the original Cassini science team: Jeff Cuzzi, the mission’s interdisciplinary scientist for rings; Dale Cruikshank, an astronomer and planetary scientist studying Saturn’s icy moons; and Chris McKay, a planetary scientist and one of the original collaborators on the. Mission scientists were particularly interested in Titan, Saturn’s largest moon — a hazy ball larger than the planet Mercury. Titan is an interesting moon because. Game Changers. Kepler-22b is a “super-Earth,” about 2. Titan's dense atmosphere is opaque at most wavelengths, but the spacecraft captured some surface details, including a possible crater, through wavelengths in which the atmosphere is clear. When did the first human go in space? On July 1, 2004 Universal Time (June 30 in U. The findings from these fly-throughs are the strongest evidence yet for the existence of large-scale saltwater reservoirs beneath the moon’s icy crust. The NASA/ESA/ASI Cassini-Huygens mission has directly sampled the water plumes jetting into space from Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The flyby had a close-approach distance of about 7,000 miles (11,000 kilometers). Pop-out player.