Saturn: ‘Lord of the Rings’
Unrivaled Jewel of the Solar System
By Lucino C. Soriano
Images: JPL/National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
By Lucino C. Soriano
Images: JPL/National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
‘HEURĒKA! HEURĒKA!’
This may have been the exclamation of Italian-born astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini (GDC) every time he discovered each of the amazing Saturnian satellites - Iapetus (1671), Rhea (1672), Tethys (1684), and Dionne (1684), using very powerful telescopes, yet primitive in today’s standards.
‘EUREKA! EUREKA!’
Some 333 years later, this may have ceaselessly reverberated at the control room of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where more than 250 scientists (including those based in Europe and Asia) witnessed the arrival of the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft some 59.5 million kms. ‘near’ the beringed planet.
Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, a product of a 40-year painstaking research and 22-year ‘effort, commitment, and ingenuity,’ was launched, along with the Huygen’s probe in 1997 at Cape Cannaveral. It was named after GDC and Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch astronomer who in 1655 discovered Titan, Saturn's largest moon.
This may have been the exclamation of Italian-born astronomer Gian Domenico Cassini (GDC) every time he discovered each of the amazing Saturnian satellites - Iapetus (1671), Rhea (1672), Tethys (1684), and Dionne (1684), using very powerful telescopes, yet primitive in today’s standards.
‘EUREKA! EUREKA!’
Some 333 years later, this may have ceaselessly reverberated at the control room of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, where more than 250 scientists (including those based in Europe and Asia) witnessed the arrival of the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft some 59.5 million kms. ‘near’ the beringed planet.
Cassini-Huygens spacecraft, a product of a 40-year painstaking research and 22-year ‘effort, commitment, and ingenuity,’ was launched, along with the Huygen’s probe in 1997 at Cape Cannaveral. It was named after GDC and Christiaan Huygens, a Dutch astronomer who in 1655 discovered Titan, Saturn's largest moon.
The ambitious project – which is a collaboration of 17 nations - is a joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency.
According to NASA, the spacecraft contributed to studies of Jupiter for six months in 2000 before it reached its destination, Saturn, in 2004 and started a string of flybys of Saturn's moons. That same year it released the Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan to conduct a study of the moon's atmosphere and surface composition. Now in its second extended mission, which goes through 2017, Cassini will make the first observations of a complete seasonal period for Saturn and its moons.
While orbiting the ringed planet Saturn and its numerous moons, the Cassini spacecraft has been and continues to be a keystone of exploration of the Saturnian system and the properties of gaseous planets in our solar system.
According to NASA, the spacecraft contributed to studies of Jupiter for six months in 2000 before it reached its destination, Saturn, in 2004 and started a string of flybys of Saturn's moons. That same year it released the Huygens probe on Saturn's moon Titan to conduct a study of the moon's atmosphere and surface composition. Now in its second extended mission, which goes through 2017, Cassini will make the first observations of a complete seasonal period for Saturn and its moons.
While orbiting the ringed planet Saturn and its numerous moons, the Cassini spacecraft has been and continues to be a keystone of exploration of the Saturnian system and the properties of gaseous planets in our solar system.
To deliver invaluable data from the mission to scientists around the world, the Cassini spacecraft is loaded with an array of sophisticated instruments and high-resolution cameras.
“In many ways, the spacecraft's instruments can be classified to the way human senses operate. Your eyes and ears are "remote sensing" devices because you can receive information from remote objects without being in direct contact with them. Your senses of touch and taste are "direct sensing" devices. Your nose can be construed as either a remote or direct sensing device. You can certainly smell the apple pie across the room without having your nose in direct contact with it, but the molecules carrying the scent do have to make direct contact with your sinuses. Cassini's instruments can be classified as remote and microwave remote sensing instruments, and fields and particles instruments. These are all designed to record significant data and take a variety of close-up measurements,” says NASA.
“However, the instruments on the Cassini spacecraft are much more advanced than our own. Cassini can "see" in wavelengths of light and energy that the human eye cannot. The instruments on the spacecraft can "feel" things about magnetic fields and tiny dust particles that no human hand could detect. The remote sensing instruments can calculate measurements from a great distance. This set includes both optical and microwave sensing instruments including cameras, spectrometers, radar and radio,” adds NASA.
“In many ways, the spacecraft's instruments can be classified to the way human senses operate. Your eyes and ears are "remote sensing" devices because you can receive information from remote objects without being in direct contact with them. Your senses of touch and taste are "direct sensing" devices. Your nose can be construed as either a remote or direct sensing device. You can certainly smell the apple pie across the room without having your nose in direct contact with it, but the molecules carrying the scent do have to make direct contact with your sinuses. Cassini's instruments can be classified as remote and microwave remote sensing instruments, and fields and particles instruments. These are all designed to record significant data and take a variety of close-up measurements,” says NASA.
“However, the instruments on the Cassini spacecraft are much more advanced than our own. Cassini can "see" in wavelengths of light and energy that the human eye cannot. The instruments on the spacecraft can "feel" things about magnetic fields and tiny dust particles that no human hand could detect. The remote sensing instruments can calculate measurements from a great distance. This set includes both optical and microwave sensing instruments including cameras, spectrometers, radar and radio,” adds NASA.
In December 2004, the 319-kilogram Huygens probe separated from the Cassini orbiter and plunged into a planetary atmosphere farther away from Earth than any other deep space probe has gone before. While traveling onboard the Cassini orbiter throughout the seven-year journey to Saturn, the probe underwent a series of in-flight tests and health checks to ensure that all of its instruments are working properly, including impeccable computer and instruments programming so that valuable data can be communicated back to the orbiter and then back to Earth without any glitches or technical problems. In January of 2005, just 45 minutes before reaching the atmosphere of Titan, timers ‘woke up’ the Huygens probe.
Survey and sniff, analyze and scrutinize.
These are the functions of the 12 science instruments (designed to undertake 27 diverse science investigations) onboard the Cassini, in addition to taking stunning high-resolution photographs. Each instrument is designed to carry out sophisticated scientific studies of Saturn, from collecting data in multiple regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, to studying dust particles, to characterizing Saturn's plasma environment and magnetosphere.
The Optical Remote Sensing Instruments are mounted on the remote sensing pallet, and configured to study Saturn and its rings and moons in the electromagnetic spectrum. These are the Composite Infrared Spectrometer, Imaging Science Subsytem, Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrographs, Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer.
To Study the Fields, Particles and Waves, the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer, Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer, Magnetometer, Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument, Radio and Plasma Wave Science, Radar and Radio Science.
(For a detailed description of the above scientific instruments, visit the Website of NASA listed at the end of this article.)
During Cassini's four-year tour, it orbited Saturn 76 times and executed 52 close encounters with seven of Saturn's 31 known moons. It may discover other moons not yet spotted within Saturn's ring system. But this will be the last close look at Phoebe during the mission.
These are the functions of the 12 science instruments (designed to undertake 27 diverse science investigations) onboard the Cassini, in addition to taking stunning high-resolution photographs. Each instrument is designed to carry out sophisticated scientific studies of Saturn, from collecting data in multiple regions of the electromagnetic spectrum, to studying dust particles, to characterizing Saturn's plasma environment and magnetosphere.
The Optical Remote Sensing Instruments are mounted on the remote sensing pallet, and configured to study Saturn and its rings and moons in the electromagnetic spectrum. These are the Composite Infrared Spectrometer, Imaging Science Subsytem, Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrographs, Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer.
To Study the Fields, Particles and Waves, the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer, Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer, Magnetometer, Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument, Radio and Plasma Wave Science, Radar and Radio Science.
(For a detailed description of the above scientific instruments, visit the Website of NASA listed at the end of this article.)
During Cassini's four-year tour, it orbited Saturn 76 times and executed 52 close encounters with seven of Saturn's 31 known moons. It may discover other moons not yet spotted within Saturn's ring system. But this will be the last close look at Phoebe during the mission.
December 30, 2000: Cassini-Huygens takes a six-month swing by Jupiter to pick up speed for its journey to Saturn and collaborates with NASA's Galileo spacecraft to study the Jovian system.
June 30, 2004: Cassini arrives at Saturn.
December 13, 2004: Cassini-Huygens makes its first flyby of a Saturnian moon, two in fact: Titan and Dione.
December 24, 2004: The Cassini spacecraft releases the European Space Agency-built Huygens probe at Saturn's moon Titan.
January 14, 2005: The Huygens probe makes its descent through Titan's atmosphere to sample the chemical composition and surface properties of the Saturnian moon.
June 2008: Cassini completes its primary mission to explore the Saturn system and begins its mission extension (Cassini Equinox Mission).
September 2010: Cassini completes its extended mission (Cassini Equinox Mission) and begins its second mission extension (Cassini Solstice Mission), which goes through 2017 and will make the first observations of a complete seasonal period for Saturn and its moons.
December 2011:Cassini uses its synthetic aperture radar to obtain the highest resolution images yet of Saturn's moon Enceladus.
December 2012: Cassini uses its visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, or VIMS, instrument to track the transit of Venus -- a first for a spacecraft beyond Earth orbit. The exercise is to test the feasibility of using Cassini's VIMS to observe planets outside our solar system.
March 2013: Cassini makes its last flyby of Saturn's moon Rhea, probing the internal structure of the moon by measuring the gravitational pull of Rhea against the spacecraft's steady radio link to NASA's Deep Space Network here on Earth.
July 2013: Cassini images a backlit Saturn to examine the planet's rings in fine detail and captures a pixel-size Earth in the process. In a campaign to raise awareness about the photo shoot, NASA encourages Earthlings to go outside and wave at Saturn.
June 30, 2004: Cassini arrives at Saturn.
December 13, 2004: Cassini-Huygens makes its first flyby of a Saturnian moon, two in fact: Titan and Dione.
December 24, 2004: The Cassini spacecraft releases the European Space Agency-built Huygens probe at Saturn's moon Titan.
January 14, 2005: The Huygens probe makes its descent through Titan's atmosphere to sample the chemical composition and surface properties of the Saturnian moon.
June 2008: Cassini completes its primary mission to explore the Saturn system and begins its mission extension (Cassini Equinox Mission).
September 2010: Cassini completes its extended mission (Cassini Equinox Mission) and begins its second mission extension (Cassini Solstice Mission), which goes through 2017 and will make the first observations of a complete seasonal period for Saturn and its moons.
December 2011:Cassini uses its synthetic aperture radar to obtain the highest resolution images yet of Saturn's moon Enceladus.
December 2012: Cassini uses its visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, or VIMS, instrument to track the transit of Venus -- a first for a spacecraft beyond Earth orbit. The exercise is to test the feasibility of using Cassini's VIMS to observe planets outside our solar system.
March 2013: Cassini makes its last flyby of Saturn's moon Rhea, probing the internal structure of the moon by measuring the gravitational pull of Rhea against the spacecraft's steady radio link to NASA's Deep Space Network here on Earth.
July 2013: Cassini images a backlit Saturn to examine the planet's rings in fine detail and captures a pixel-size Earth in the process. In a campaign to raise awareness about the photo shoot, NASA encourages Earthlings to go outside and wave at Saturn.
Saturn, the sixth planet, is the second largest planet in our solar system, after Jupiter. Saturn and its ring system “serve as a miniature model of the disc of gas and dust surrounding the Sun.”
Cassini traveled nearly 3.5 billion kilometers (2.2 billion miles) to reach Saturn after its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on October 15, 1997.
"It feels awfully good to be in orbit around the lord of the rings. This is the result of 22 years of effort, of commitment, of ingenuity, and that's what exploration is all about," says Dr. Charles Elachi, JPL director and team leader on the radar instrument onboard Cassini.
Cassini traveled nearly 3.5 billion kilometers (2.2 billion miles) to reach Saturn after its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida, on October 15, 1997.
"It feels awfully good to be in orbit around the lord of the rings. This is the result of 22 years of effort, of commitment, of ingenuity, and that's what exploration is all about," says Dr. Charles Elachi, JPL director and team leader on the radar instrument onboard Cassini.
For the latest images and more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission, visit http://www.saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini.