Cassini performed 20 ring-grazing orbits that brought it within 1000 kilometers of Saturn’s outermost edge, offering incredible close encounters. On one of those orbits, a tiny storm ballooned into an enormous, billowing mass of cloud and gas. This Great White Storm verified long-held theories regarding water-ice geysers on Enceladus, a moon believed to contain a…
Cassini began its journey towards Saturn after receiving gravitational boosts from Venus (twice), Earth, and Jupiter. It entered Saturn’s orbit on June 30, 2004 and released Huygens for landing on Titan on January 1st 2005. Scientists used Cassini’s radioisotope thermoelectric generator to observe and learn more about Saturn and its moons, and will eventually crash…
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has been studying Saturn’s rings and moons for 13 years, and recently released findings provide insight into their formation, evolution, and how they change over time. New research suggests the rings may be much younger than scientists previously assumed, based on an association between mass of rings and how quickly they become…
Cassini was a highly complex interplanetary spacecraft. Featuring 12 scientific instruments like imaging cameras, radar, spectrometers, magnetometers and spectrographs – its primary mission was to conduct in-depth studies of Saturn, its rings, and moons. Its orbiter was powered by three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs). These produced electricity using plutonium-238 decay. It was a joint NASA/ESA…
The fourth planet out from the Sun, Mars has fascinated people for centuries. The red planet is easy to see in the night sky, and telescopic observations have revealed many aspects of its surface and atmosphere. Observers have also recorded seasonal weather patterns, polar ice caps, volcanoes, and canyons on Mars. This is the first…
