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Cassini–Huygens (/ k ə ˈ s iː n i ˈ h ɔɪ ɡ ən z / kə-SEE-nee HOY-gənz), commonly called Cassini, was a space-research mission by NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ASI) to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn and its system, including its rings and natural satellites.
There was budgetary drama in 2013–14 about NASA receiving U.S. government funding for the Grand Finale. The two phases of the Grand Finale ended up being the equivalent of having two separate Discovery Program-class missions in that the Grand Finale was completely different from the main Cassini regular mission. The U.S. government in late ...
View of Saturn from Cassini, taken in March 2004, shortly before the spacecraft's orbital insertion in July 2004. This article provides a timeline of the Cassini–Huygens mission (commonly called Cassini). Cassini was a collaboration between the United States' NASA, the European Space Agency ("ESA"), and the Italian Space Agency ("ASI") to send a probe to study the Saturnian system, including ...
This led NASA to plan Cassini's "Grand Finale": a series of 22 dives between the planet and its rings, with one final orbit to destroy the probe on Friday. Cassini snapped its final of many images ...
In 2009, the probe discovered and confirmed four new satellites. Its primary mission ended in 2008, when the spacecraft completed 74 orbits around the planet. In 2010, the probe began its first extended mission, the Cassini Equinox Mission. The Cassini Solstice Mission, the second mission extension, lasted through September 2017. [6]
Diagram of an RTG used on the Cassini probe [1] Diagram of a stack of general-purpose heat source modules as used in RTGs Image of a plutonium RTG pellet glowing red hot.. GPHS-RTG or general-purpose heat source — radioisotope thermoelectric generator, is a specific design of the radioisotope thermoelectric generator (RTG) used on US space missions.
The Department of Energy transferred the space battery program from Ohio to Argonne in 2002 because of security concerns. The amount of radioactive plutonium in the RTG is about one-third the amount on board the Cassini–Huygens probe when it launched in 1997.
Prior to Cassini ' s launch, she was a strong and visible defendant of the usage of radioactive materials on the Cassini spacecraft. [44] She is a supporter of a plan for human spaceflight toward the Moon and Mars , and in an op-ed piece published in The New York Times , [ 49 ] she highlighted the benefits of a deep-space-capable heavy launch ...