SISV

Cassini-Huygens

Mission to Saturn & Titan

A satellite probe for Saturn research, built jointly by NASA and the European Space Agency, which was launched on Oct. 13, 1997. The 5,650-kg (12,450-lb) spacecraft went into orbit around Saturn in June 2004 after a gravity-assisted journey that took it twice around Venus and once each around the Earth and Jupiter. Upon arrival, Cassini engaged in a series of complex orbital maneuvers in order to achieve its major science goals, which include observing Saturn's near-polar atmosphere and magnetic field from high inclination orbits, several close flybys of the icy satellites Mimas, Enceladus, Dione, Rhea, and Iapetus, and multiple flybys of Saturn's large, enigmatic moon Titan. A high point of the mission was the release of the Huygens Probe and its descent into Titan's atmosphere in December 25 of 2004, landing in its surface after a 21 days trip. Cassini continues orbiting Saturn to date.

Instrumentos de Cassini2

Cassini instruments
Instrument		Principal Investigator
CAPS	Cassini Plasma Spectrometer	David T. Young Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio , TX , USA
CDA	Cosmic Dust Analyzer	Ralf Srama Max-Planck-Institut für Kernphysik, Heidelberg , Germany
CIRS	Composite Infrared Spectrometer	Michael Flasar NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt , MD , USA
INMS	Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer	J. Hunter Waite University of Michigan , Ann Arbor , MI , USA
ISS	Imaging Science Subsystem	Carolyn C. Porco Space Science Institute, Boulder, CO, USA
MAG	Dual Technique Magnetometer	David J. Southwood Imperial College of Science and Technology, London , UK
MIMI	Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument	Stamatios M. Krimigis Johns Hopkins University , Baltimore , MD , USA
RADAR	Cassini Radar	Charles Elachi Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, USA
RPWS	Radio and Plasma Wave Science	Donald A. Gurnett University of Iowa , Iowa City , IA , USA
RSS	Radio Science Subsystem	Arvydas J. Kliore NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, USA
UVIS	Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph	Larry Esposito University of Colorado, Boulder, CO, USA
VIMS	Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer	Robert H. Brown University of Arizona , Tucson , AZ , USA

Huygens instruments
Instrument		Principal Investigator
ACP	Aerosol Collector and Pyrolyser	G. Israel, Service d'Aéronomie, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique (CNRS), Verrières-le-Buisson, France
DISR	Descent Imager and Spectral Radiometer	M. G. Tomasko, University of Arizona, Tucson, USA
DWE	Doppler Wind Experiment	M. K. Bird, Universität Bonn , Germany
GCMS	Gas Chromatograph and Mass Spectrometer	H. Niemann, NASA Goddard Space Flight Center , Greenbelt , USA
HASI	Huygens Atmospheric Structure Instrument	M. Fulchignoni, Université Paris VII, Paris, France
SSP	Surface Science Package	J. C. Zarnecki, Open University, Milton Keynes , United Kingdom

Images: JPL-NASA-ESA

Information from: David Darling's encyclopedia and JPL-NASA