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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.
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 ...
Solar System space probes operational as of November 2024. This is a list of active space probes which have escaped Earth orbit. It includes lunar space probes, but does not include space probes orbiting at the Sun–Earth Lagrangian points (for these, see List of objects at Lagrangian points). A craft is deemed "active" if it is still able to ...
During planning for its extended missions, various future plans for Cassini were evaluated on the basis of scientific value, cost, and time. [3] [7] Some of the options examined included collision with Saturn atmosphere, an icy satellite, or rings; another was departure from Saturn orbit to Jupiter, Uranus, Neptune, or a centaur.
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]
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 ...
The Magellan spacecraft was a space probe sent to the planet Venus, the first uncrewed interplanetary spacecraft to be launched by NASA since its successful Pioneer Orbiter, also to Venus, in 1978. It was also the first deep-space probe to be launched on the Space Shuttle. [38] In 1993, it employed aerobraking techniques to lower its orbit.
Titan Saturn System Mission (TSSM) was a joint NASA–ESA proposal for an exploration of Saturn and its moons Titan and Enceladus, [1] where many complex phenomena were revealed by Cassini. TSSM was proposed to launch in 2020, get gravity assists from Earth and Venus, and arrive at the Saturn system in 2029.