Cassini-Huygens
The NASA-ESA-ASI mission that orbited Saturn for 13 years.
Cassini-Huygens was a joint NASA, ESA and Italian Space Agency mission to Saturn. NASA's Cassini orbiter carried ESA's Huygens lander, which landed on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Cassini was the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn.
It launched on 15 October 1997, entered orbit on 1 July 2004 and spent 13 years studying the planet, its rings and moons. On 15 September 2017 it was steered into Saturn's atmosphere and burned up so it could not contaminate the moons.
Quick Facts
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- all
- Mission type
- Cassini: Saturn orbiter; Huygens: Titan lander
- Distance travelled
- 7.9 e9km
- Manufacturer
- Cassini: JPL; Huygens: Aerospatiale
- Launch mass
- 5,712 kg / 12,593 lb
- Dry mass
- 2,523 kg / 5,562 lb
- Power
- ~885 watts (at launch)
- ~670 watts (2010)
- ~663 watts (at end of mission)
- Launched
- October 15, 1997, 08:43:00 UTC
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