Mission
The Cassini mission was designed to explore Saturn, its rings and moons. The Cassini mission is a collaborative research program involving scientists from the United States, France, Italy, Germany, and several other nations. Launched on October 15, 1997, Cassini will spend six years traveling to Saturn.
It will generate the velocity required for the 890 million mile trip by traveling Sunward to Venus, using Venus’ gravitational pull to gather additional speed, circle back to Earth, and use the Earth to gather even more speed to be slingshot to Saturn.
Given the enormous distance between Earth and Saturn, it would have been a waste to send a spacecraft to the Saturnian region and only take a few measurements. Thus, the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe are equipped with an array of sophisticated instruments and cameras able to collect images in many varying conditions and light spectra; from visible light to the infrared (David, 2002).
After a seven-year voyage that includes four gravity-assist maneuvers, Cassini was scheduled tp enter Saturn's orbit in July of 2004. It will then begin a four-year mission that includes more than 70 orbits around the ringed planet and its moons. Pointing its various instruments at carefully calculated scientific targets, Cassini will collect detailed data on Saturn, its rings and the 30 known moons orbiting this gas giant (David, 2002). The information will aid scientists in understanding this complex and fascinating region. Main scientific goals include measuring Saturn's huge magnetosphere, analyzing from up close those stunning rings and studying Saturn's composition and atmosphere.
Once the spacecraft's onboard recording device reaches capacity, it will point its high-gain antenna toward Earth and download the data through one of the 70-meter (230-foot) antennas of the Deep Space Network. Cassini will be sending home several gigabytes of data daily. The.....
