9.5
AU FROM SUN
DISTANCE
1,421,179,772 km
19 years, 335 days
MISSION DURATION
TOTAL
5,712
KG
LAUNCH MASS
9
TARGETS
Venus, Earth, Jupiter
Cassini-Huygens is a orbiter mission by NASA / JPL / ESA / ASI targeting Saturn. Launched October 15, 1997. Currently 9.5 AU from the Sun.
ABOUT CASSINI-HUYGENS
Cassini-Huygens was one of the most ambitious missions ever launched. The Cassini orbiter spent 13 years studying Saturn, its rings, and moons, while the Huygens probe made the first landing on Titan in January 2005. Key discoveries included water geysers on Enceladus and liquid hydrocarbon seas on Titan. Cassini ended its mission with the “Grand Finale” series of orbits, plunging into Saturn’s atmosphere on September 15, 2017.
KEY DISCOVERIES
- Liquid methane/ethane seas on Titan
- Water ice geysers on Enceladus (potential habitability)
- Detailed structure of Saturns rings
- Hexagonal storm at Saturns north pole
- Huygens landed on Titan revealing Earth-like landscape
TECHNOLOGY & FIRSTS
- Largest interplanetary spacecraft at the time
- First Saturn orbiter
- Huygens probe: first landing in outer solar system (Titan)
- 294 orbits of Saturn over 13 years
SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS (12)
ISS (Imaging Science)
VIMS (IR/Visible spectrometer)
CIRS (Composite IR spectrometer)
UVIS (UV spectrograph)
RADAR (Titan surface mapper)
MAG (Dual magnetometer)
CAPS (Plasma spectrometer)
CDA (Cosmic Dust Analyzer)
INMS (Ion/Neutral mass spectrometer)
MIMI (Magnetospheric imaging)
RPWS (Radio/Plasma wave)
RSS (Radio science)
SPACECRAFT SPECIFICATIONS
Launch Mass5,712 kg (12,595 lbs)
PowerRTG (Plutonium-238)
Propulsion490N main engines (2), 0.5N RCS thrusters (16)
Launch VehicleTitan IVB / Centaur
Launch DateOctober 15, 1997
Arrival DateJuly 1, 2004
Mission EndSeptember 15, 2017
ProgramFlagship
MISSION TRAJECTORY
1
Venus
2
Earth
3
Jupiter
4
Saturn
5
Titan
6
Enceladus
7
Iapetus
8
Hyperion
9
Phoebe
🚀 LAUNCH MISSION