Cassini-Huygens
Cassini-Huygens reveals an ocean-bearing Saturn system and completes the first landing in the outer solar system
Cassini-Huygens launched on October 15, 1997 toward Saturn system and Titan. The 12,593 pounds (5,712 kilograms) fueled with Huygens spacecraft carried twelve cassini remote-sensing, fields, particles, dust, radar, radio, and mass-spectrometry investigations plus six huygens atmospheric and surface experiments. Huygens descended through Titan's haze to a river-shaped landscape while Cassini orbited Saturn 293 times, discovered active water-rich plumes at Enceladus, mapped Titan's methane seas, studied rings and moons through seasonal change, and ended with 22 Grand Finale dives.
Mission dossier
Flight profile, locations, hardware, and outcome in the same reference format used throughout the archive.
Flight profile
- Launch
- October 15, 1997
Places and recovery
- Destination
- Saturn system and Titan
Mission record
- Arrival / encounter
- Saturn orbit July 1, 2004; Huygens landed January 14, 2005
- Operator
- NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, European Space Agency, and Italian Space Agency
- Mission type
- Saturn and Titan atmospheric
- Launch vehicle
- Titan IVB-Centaur
- Spacecraft mass
- 12,593 pounds (5,712 kilograms) fueled with Huygens
- Program
- Cassini-Huygens
- Crew complement
- 0
- Science payload
- Twelve Cassini remote-sensing, fields, particles, dust, radar, radio, and mass-spectrometry investigations plus six Huygens atmospheric and surface experiments
- Outcome
- Successful; Cassini entered Saturn September 15, 2017
Mission Purpose
2 sources- Conduct a comprehensive, long-duration study of Saturn, its rings, atmosphere, magnetosphere, and diverse moons and directly measure Titan's atmosphere and surface during descent and landing.
- Complete interplanetary cruise, , saturn orbit july 1, 2004; huygens landed january 14, 2005, and commissioning of Cassini orbiter and Huygens Titan probe.
- Operate navigation, power, thermal, telecommunications, autonomy, science instruments, and permanent planetary-data archive systems across the full mission.
- Huygens descended through Titan's haze to a river-shaped landscape while Cassini orbited Saturn 293 times, discovered active water-rich plumes at Enceladus, mapped Titan's methane seas, studied rings and moons through seasonal change, and ended with 22 Grand Finale dives.
Planned Flight Plan
2 sources- October 15, 1997
Cassini-Huygens launches
Titan IVB-Centaur sends the spacecraft onto its interplanetary trajectory.
- Saturn orbit July 1, 2004; Huygens landed January 14, 2005
Reach the primary encounter phase
Cassini orbiter and Huygens Titan probe completes the documented arrival, , , landing, or sample-delivery milestone.
- Commissioning and navigation
Establish science operations
Controllers validate spacecraft health, instruments, navigation, communications, autonomy, and archive processing.
- Science operations
Cassini-Huygens reveals an ocean-bearing Saturn system and completes the first landing in the outer solar system
Huygens descended through Titan's haze to a river-shaped landscape while Cassini orbited Saturn 293 times, discovered active water-rich plumes at Enceladus, mapped Titan's methane seas, studied rings and moons through seasonal change, and ended with 22 Grand Finale dives.
Mission Timeline
2 sources- October 15, 1997
Launch
Cassini-Huygens departs Earth aboard Titan IVB-Centaur.
- Saturn orbit July 1, 2004; Huygens landed January 14, 2005
Primary encounter milestone
Cassini orbiter and Huygens Titan probe reaches its documented planetary or small-body target phase.
- Science milestone
Cassini-Huygens reveals an ocean-bearing Saturn system and completes the first landing in the outer solar system
Huygens descended through Titan's haze to a river-shaped landscape while Cassini orbited Saturn 293 times, discovered active water-rich plumes at Enceladus, mapped Titan's methane seas, studied rings and moons through seasonal change, and ended with 22 Grand Finale dives.
- Recorded outcome
Successful; Cassini entered Saturn September 15, 2017
Cassini-Huygens's observations and returned materials remain part of the permanent planetary archive.