Cassini Huygens Mission

Answer: The overall duration of the mission was 19 years and 335 days out of which at Saturn it took 13 years and 76 days and it entered the orbit of Saturn on 1 July, 2004. The Cassini Huygens Mission was scheduled for 4 years but it got extent for the first time for 2 years and 62 days, called as equinox; the second it got extended for 6 years and 205 days, called as solstice; and the last time it got extended for 4 months and 24 days which came to be known as finale. 6 years and 261 days were the en route duration of the mission.

Answer: It includes;

• The water evidence was found on one of the planets Saturn’s moon called Enceladus.
• The huge lake of methane was found on Titan.
• The big ring was also founded by the spacecraft which was located approximately 8 million miles from the planet Saturn.

The launch mass of the spacecraft was 12,593 pound (5,712 kilograms), the dry mass was 5,562 pounds (2,523 kilograms) and the power of the spacecraft was 885 watts at time of launching, 670 watts in year 2010 and 663 watts in year 2017.

Answer: The purpose of the CassiniHuygens mission was to study the system, rings, moons, satellites or every detail related to the planet Saturn in an unprecedented and unpredictable manner.

The goal of the CassiniHuygens mission are as follows;

• To scrutinise or examine the atmosphere and composition of the planet Saturn.
• To explore the 3-D rings structure of Saturn as well as the moon of the planet Saturn.
• To study the 3-D magnetosphere of the planet Saturn i.e. the region which is guided by the magnetic fields of the planet Saturn in space.
• To determine the history (geological) of each and every object founded by the spacecraft.
• At the level of cloud, to study the dynamic or movable behaviour of the atmosphere of the planet Saturn.
• To study the variability of the time of gases and clouds of Saturn’s moon Titan.
• To characterise the surface of Titan on the scale (regional).

Answer: The Cassini Huygens Mission was generally known as SOTP (Saturn Orbiter Titan Probe). It is the mission of space research. Christiaan Huygens and Giovanni Cassini were the astronomers who led the Cassini (orbit of Saturn) Huygens (lander on Saturn’s moon Titan) Mission. NASA or JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory) operated the Cassini while ESA or ASI operated the Huygens. 

The COSPAR ID of the mission was 1997-061A and its SATCAT number is 25008. The Cassini spacecraft is one of the largest celestial spacecraft. The Cassini orbiter weighed approximately 4,685 pounds i.e. 2,125 kilograms with 22 feet (6.7 metres) length and 13 feet (4 metres) width. 

The Huygens probe had a disk-like shape which was mounted on the Cassini sides.  Centaur/Titan IV(401)B B-33 was the rocket by which the Cassini Huygens mission started from the site of launching Cape Canaveral (SLC-40) on 15 October, 1997. During the voyage to the planet, it passes throughVenus fly bys on 24 June, 1998; Earth on 18 August, 1999; 2685 Masursky asteroid on 23 Jamura, 2000 and then to the planet Jupiter on 30 December, 2000.