Cassini huygens program

After arriving at Saturn in July , Cassini's mission sent back loads of data on Saturn until its mission ended with operators sending it on a deliberate plunge into Saturn's atmosphere in September When launched, Cassini was made up of two parts: the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe. On the way to Saturn, Cassini searched for gravitational waves throughout the solar system and photographed any planets and moons that it passed.

While Cassini was at Saturn, it collected an immense amount of measurements, including:. The Huygens probe, contributed by the European Space Agency, carried eight more experiments.

The probe was released from the main Cassini spacecraft on December 24, , and reached Titan on January 14, , where it dropped through the thick atmosphere to land on the surface. The Huygens experiments allowed the probe to:. During the missions of Cassini and Huygens, Cassini communicated with Earth using three microwave antennas. The large white dish on top of Cassini is the high-gain antenna—it could send and receive data a lot faster than the other antennas on board.

The dish also doubled as a shield to protect Cassini from the heat when the spacecraft was close to the sun during the period shortly after its launch.

As Cassini got closer to Saturn, cold temperatures became a much bigger problem, so Cassini carried heaters and was wrapped in an insulating blanket. Cassini ran on about watts of electrical power, produced by radioisotope thermoelectric generators RTGs.

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This work will also help determine processes that could lead to habitability on the moons of giant planets around distant stars. NASA Astrobiology Involvement Researchers supported by elements of the Astrobiology Program were and continue to be involved in numerous aspects of the Cassini-Huygens mission, from instrument development to data collection and analysis.

Studies supported by the program include Earth-based research in laboratories and in the field that are used to interpret data being returned by the Cassini mission. The Astrobiology Program also supports the development of instruments that will be used on future missions to the Saturn system. His involvement includes development of thermal evolution models of icy satellites which have been constrained by observations of their atmosphere and surface geology.

Measurements from the Cassini spacecraft have found a body of liquid water the size of a Great Lake on Enceladus. Read More. The discovery became even more important when Cassini found evidence of water-based ice in the plume. Life as we know it relies on water, so the search for life suddenly extended to this small, bright moon. The recent discovery of signs of an subsurface ocean makes Enceladus one of the most exciting science destinations in our solar system.

Imaging with radar and both visible and infrared wavelengths shows that Titan has many geologic processes similar to that of the Earth. Scientists then reported liquid lakes on Titan on January 3, , in the journal Science. Beginning with sunlight and methane, ever more complex molecules form until they become large enough to make the smog that covers the giant moon.