"Кассини" !

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tnt22


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tnt22

ЦитироватьCassini: A Saturn Odyssey

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Опубликовано: 29 авг. 2017 г.

Team members reflect on what has made the NASA/ESA Cassini mission such an epic journey -- the extraordinary spacecraft, tremendous science and historic international collaboration. This video uses a combination of animation and actual imagery returned over the course of the mission.
For more information about the Cassini mission, visit https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov . For specific information about the mission's Grand Finale, visit https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/g...
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHaaIX-iSqMhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHaaIX-iSqM (4:34)

tnt22

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/3108/saturn-plunge-nears-for-cassini-spacecraft/
ЦитироватьSaturn Plunge Nears for Cassini Spacecraft
August 29, 2017
 

On Sept. 15, high above Saturn's cloud tops, communication fr om the spacecraft will cease and Cassini's mission of exploration will conclude.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft is 18 days from its mission-ending dive into the atmosphere of Saturn. Its fateful plunge on Sept. 15 is a foregone conclusion—an April 22 gravitational kick from Saturn's moon Titan placed the two-and-a-half ton vehicle on its path for impending destruction. Yet several mission milestones have to occur over the coming two-plus weeks to prepare the vehicle for one last burst of trailblazing science.

"The Cassini mission has been packed full of scientific firsts, and our unique planetary revelations will continue to the very end of the mission as Cassini becomes Saturn's first planetary probe, sampling Saturn's atmosphere up until the last second," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist from NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "We'll be sending data in near real time as we rush headlong into the atmosphere—it's truly a first-of-its-kind event at Saturn."
Спойлер
The spacecraft is expected to lose radio contact with Earth within about one to two minutes after beginning its descent into Saturn's upper atmosphere. But on the way down, before contact is lost, eight of Cassini's 12 science instruments will be operating. In particular, the spacecraft's ion and neutral mass spectrometer (INMS), which will be directly sampling the atmosphere's composition, potentially returning insights into the giant planet's formation and evolution. On the day before the plunge, other Cassini instruments will make detailed, high-resolution observations of Saturn's auroras, temperature, and the vortices at the planet's poles. Cassini's imaging camera will be off during this final descent, having taken a last look at the Saturn system the previous day (Sept. 14).

In its final week, Cassini will pass several milestones en route to its science-rich Saturn plunge. (Times below are predicted and may change slightly; see https://go.nasa.gov/2wbaCBT for updated times.)

-- Sept. 9 -- Cassini will make the last of 22 passes between Saturn itself and its rings -- closest approach is 1,044 miles (1,680 kilometers) above the clouds tops.

-- Sept. 11 -- Cassini will make a distant flyby of Saturn's largest moon, Titan. Even though the spacecraft will be at 73,974 miles (119,049 kilometers) away, the gravitational influence of the moon will slow down the spacecraft slightly as it speeds past. A few days later, instead of passing through the outermost fringes of Saturn's atmosphere, Cassini will dive in too deep to survive the friction and heating.

-- Sept. 14 -- Cassini's imaging cameras take their last look around the Saturn system, sending back pictures of moons Titan and Enceladus, the hexagon-shaped jet stream around the planet's north pole, and features in the rings.

-- Sept. 14 (5:45 p.m. EDT / 2:45 p.m. PDT) -- Cassini turns its antenna to point at Earth, begins a communications link that will continue until end of mission, and sends back its final images and other data collected along the way.

-- Sept. 15 (4:37 a.m. EDT / 1:37 a.m. PDT) -- The "final plunge" begins. The spacecraft starts a 5-minute roll to position INMS for optimal sampling of the atmosphere, transmitting data in near real time from now to end of mission.

-- Sept. 15 (7:53 a.m. EDT / 4:53 a.m. PDT) -- Cassini enters Saturn's atmosphere. Its thrusters fire at 10 percent of their capacity to maintain directional stability, enabling the spacecraft's high-gain antenna to remain pointed at Earth and allowing continued transmission of data.

-- Sept. 15 (7:54 a.m. EDT / 4:54 a.m. PDT) -- Cassini's thrusters are at 100 percent of capacity. Atmospheric forces overwhelm the thrusters' capacity to maintain control of the spacecraft's orientation, and the high-gain antenna loses its lock on Earth. At this moment, expected to occur about 940 miles (1,510 kilometers) above Saturn's cloud tops, communication from the spacecraft will cease, and Cassini's mission of exploration will have concluded. The spacecraft will break up like a meteor moments later.

As Cassini completes its 13-year tour of Saturn, its Grand Finale -- which began in April -- and final plunge are just the last beat. Following a four-year primary mission and a two-year extension, NASA approved an ambitious plan to extend Cassini's service by an additional seven years. Called the Cassini Solstice Mission, the extension saw Cassini perform dozens more flybys of Saturn's moons as the spacecraft observed seasonal changes in the atmospheres of Saturn and Titan. From the outset, the planned endgame for the Solstice Mission was to expend all of Cassini's maneuvering propellant exploring, then eventually arriving in the ultra-close Grand Finale orbits, ending with safe disposal of the spacecraft in Saturn's atmosphere.

"The end of Cassini's mission will be a poignant moment, but a fitting and very necessary completion of an astonishing journey," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "The Grand Finale represents the culmination of a seven-year plan to use the spacecraft's remaining resources in the most scientifically productive way possible. By safely disposing of the spacecraft in Saturn's atmosphere, we avoid any possibility Cassini could impact one of Saturn's moons somewh ere down the road, keeping them pristine for future exploration."

Since its launch in 1997, the findings of the Cassini mission have revolutionized our understanding of Saturn, its complex rings, the amazing assortment of moons and the planet's dynamic magnetic environment. The most distant planetary orbiter ever launched, Cassini started making astonishing discoveries immediately upon arrival and continues today. Icy jets shoot from the tiny moon Enceladus, providing samples of an underground ocean with evidence of hydrothermal activity. Titan's hydrocarbon lakes and seas are dominated by liquid ethane and methane, and complex pre-biotic chemicals form in the atmosphere and rain to the surface. Three-dimensional structures tower above Saturn's rings, and a giant Saturn storm circled the entire planet for most of a year. Cassini's findings at Saturn have also buttressed scientists' understanding of processes involved in the formation of planets.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of Caltech in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter.

More information about Cassini:

https://www.nasa.gov/cassini

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

Media Contact:

Preston Dyches
 Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
 818-394-7013
 preston.dyches@jpl.nasa.gov

Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo
 NASA Headquarters, Washington
 |202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077
 dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov / laura.l.cantillo@nasa.gov
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tnt22

Запись телеконференции от 2017-08-29 на Ustream.tv - http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/107391933 (1:02:55)

tnt22

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/grand-finale-orbit-guide/#Orbit_21
Цитировать
IN PROGRESS: Orbit 291 - August 30 - September 5

[TH]Event[/TH][TH]Date[/TH][TH]Spacecraft Time (UTC)[/TH][TH]Local Time (PDT)[/TH][TH]Notes[/TH]
ApoapseAug 307:48 a.m.12:48 a.m.
PeriapseSep 21:17 p.m.6:17 a.m.Fourth of the "Final Five" dips into Saturn's atmosphere.
DownlinkSep 34:38 a.m.9:38 p.m. (Sep 2)Estimated Earth Received Time (ERT) is 10:59 p.m. PDT on September 2.

    [/li]

  • Cassini has just two orbits of Saturn remaining before the mission ends.

  • During this orbit, Cassini's imaging cameras, the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS), observes haze in Titan's atmosphere, and the spacecraft's Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) and Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instruments observe Saturn's sunlit north polar auroral region.

  • The VIMS instrument and Cassini's Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) work together to study Saturn's atmosphere.

  • This is also the fourth of five orbits in which Cassini's elliptical orbit carries it so low that the spacecraft passes briefly through Saturn's atmosphere. Cassini's reaction control thrusters are at the ready to correct the spacecraft's orientation in case Saturn's atmosphere pushes on the spacecraft hard enough to cause any rotation.

  • During the period in which the spacecraft is nearest Saturn, Cassini's Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS) performs its third session directly sampling of Saturn's upper atmosphere. The instrument measures densities of different species of molecular hydrogen, helium and a variety of ions in the immediate vicinity of the spacecraft.

zandr

http://tass.ru/kosmos/4517414
ЦитироватьОдно из колец Сатурна оказалось не таким плотным, как полагали ученые

Автоматическая межпланетная станция "Кассини"© NASA/JPL-Caltech
ВАШИНГТОН, 30 августа. /Корр. ТАСС Анатолий Бочинин/. Автоматическая межпланетная станция Cassini в последние дни своей работы перед погружением в атмосферу Сатурна продолжает снабжать ученых на Земле ценнейшей информацией.
Как сообщил во вторник на пресс-конференции руководитель проекта Эрл Мейз, полученные недавно данные говорят о том, что внутреннее кольцо газового гиганта гораздо "тоньше" - оно состоит из меньшего количества пыли. Более того, она не наносит большого вреда инструментам зонда, который регулярно проходит между кольцами и самой планетой. "Сатурн продолжает удивлять нас", - отметил Мейз.
При этом он выразил большое сожаление в связи с тем, что у аппарата скоро закончится топливо, и он сгорит в атмосфере планеты. Ведь ученые теперь хотят более детально изучить этот сектор.
Cassini стал первым земным зондом, которому удалось взять образцы атмосферы Сатурна. По словам специалиста миссии в Лаборатории реактивного движения (JPL) NASA Линды Спилкер, первичный анализ показал, что взаимодействие частиц атмосферы и колец оказалось "более сложным, чем ожидалось". Она отметила, что ученые получили "удивительную и интригующую информацию" о том, как атмосферные вещества и пыль из колец Сатурна смешиваются.
При этом Cassini продолжает отправлять на Землю ценные фотоматериалы. В апреле в объектив аппарата попала воронка вихря, который вращается на северном полюсе Сатурна. Ширина его составляет примерно 32 тыс. километров. Скорость ветра там, по подсчетам специалистов, должна достигать 320 километров в час. Уникальность этой нескончаемой "грозы" состоит в том, что она имеет не округлую, а шестиугольную форму, природа ее остается загадкой по сей день.
Сам снимок был сделан в разгар "лета" на планете. Сейчас она уже начала удаляться от Солнца и вскоре полюса на долгие годы погрузятся во тьму. Полный оборот вокруг звезды Сатурн совершает за 29,5 лет.
Исследовать до последней минуты
15 сентября Cassini в последний раз подойдет к Сатурну. Как утверждают в NASA, зонд не только будет работать до самой последней минуты - именно в свои финальные часы станция соберет и передаст "домой", вероятно, важнейшие сведения об этом небесном теле.
"Имея образцы, у нас получится измерить такие вещи, как соотношение водорода к гелию, - отметила Спилкер. - Мы можем узнать, из чего состоят и нижние слои атмосферы. На расстоянии и при помощи спектроскопа сделать это гораздо сложнее".
Более того, спуск Cassini в атмосферу поможет ученым понять природу источника магнитного поля Сатурна и даже точно установить продолжительность одного дня на газовом гиганте.
Специалисты миссии уже перенастроили схему передачи данных с зонда. Обычно они сначала записывались на жесткий диск, после чего уже пересылались на Землю. Теперь же времени на это не будет - последняя прямая передача данных начнется за три часа до того, как Cassini навсегда исчезнет в облаках Сатурна. "Мы запустим режим сбора образцов в атмосфере и информация будет транслироваться до последнего мгновения", - пояснил Мейз.
До этого - 13 и 14 сентября - Cassini устроит для Сатурна заключительную фотосессию, сделав последние его снимки перед завершением своего пребывания у планеты, которое продлилось 13 лет.
Как Cassini открыл моря и океаны
Спойлер
Экспедиция Cassini началась еще в октябре 1997 года, ее основной целью было исследование Сатурна и Титана, в том числе доставка на спутник спускаемого модуля Huygens. С этой задачей Cassini успешно справился в 2005 году. Миссия является совместным проектом NASA, а также Европейского и Итальянского космических агентств.
В апреле текущего года ученые сообщили о том, что Cassini обнаружил новые свидетельства гидротермальной активности на спутнике Сатурна Энцеладе, которые подтверждают, что в его подледном океане могут быть условия, пригодные для существования жизни.
А в 2012 году было объявлено о получении при помощи инструментов, установленных на зонде, доказательств существования океана на глубине 100 км под ледяной поверхностью Титана, а также сотен озер и трех морей в полярных регионах этого спутника Сатурна.
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tnt22

Цитировать CassiniSaturn‏Подлинная учетная запись @CassiniSaturn 2 ч. назад

#GrandFinale orbit #21 of 22 underway. Spacecraft will sample Saturn's upper atmosphere at ~76,000 MPH (122K KPH) https://go.nasa.gov/2qcf2Vx 

tnt22

Цитировать13 часов назад

NASA Previews Cassini's Grand Finale (news telecon with visuals)

NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory

Прямой эфир: 29 авг. 2017 г.

Original air date: Aug. 29 at 11 a.m. PT (2 p.m. ET; 18:00 UTC/GMT)

Media teleconference with visuals about spacecraft science and operations activities for the final orbits of NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn. It included remarks from:

Curt Niebur, Cassini program scientist, Headquarters, Washington
Earl Maize, Cassini project manager, JPL
Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist, JPL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLkhDm-a3w4https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jLkhDm-a3w4 (1:02:44)

tnt22

Цитировать Chris B - NSF‏ @NASASpaceflight 1 ч. назад

FEATURE ARTICLE: 38 years after Pioneer 11, Cassini enters final 2 weeks of Saturnian mission - https://www.nasaspaceflight.com/2017/09/38-years-pioneer-11-cassini-final-saturnian-mission/ ... - by @CwG_NSF
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Цитировать

SGS_67

Это просто удивительно.
Спасибо за информацию, ув. tnt22.

tnt22

Цитировать Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 10 мин. назад

Cassini passed 1562 km above Saturn's equatorial cloud tops at 1320TDB today during perapsis-291. 2 orbits to go. Peri-292 is 0019TDB Sep 9.

tnt22

Цитировать Jonathan McDowell‏Подлинная учетная запись @planet4589 2 ч. назад

After yesterday's pass beneath the rings Cassini is already almost 1 million km from the planet. Apoapsis-292 at 1.2 million km on Tuesday

tnt22

ЦитироватьRawCassini ретвитнул(а)

Kevin M. Gill‏ @kevinmgill 60 мин. назад

Saturn's moon Titan in uncalibrated color on September 1st, via @CassiniSaturn raw data - http://flic.kr/p/Y6Zc59 

tnt22

Цитировать CassiniSaturn‏Подлинная учетная запись @CassiniSaturn 2 ч. назад

On Sept. 2, the 21st #GrandFinale passage between Saturn and its rings was completed successfully. One more remains. http://go.nasa.gov/2qcf2Vx 

tnt22

Цитировать CassiniSaturn‏Подлинная учетная запись @CassiniSaturn 2 ч. назад

Nevertheless, it moves. A "spacecraft's eye" view of our Aug. 1 flyby of Saturn's ocean moon Enceladus. Details: https://go.nasa.gov/2ezNpBs
https://video.twimg.com/tweet_video/DI99TtXVYAEMNdE.mp4
https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/resources/7766/
ЦитироватьNevertheless, It Moves
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Photojournal: PIA21344
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September 4, 2017

The heavens often seem vast and unchanging as seen from Earth, but movement in the skies is the norm. The relative motions of both Cassini and Enceladus over a 15-minute period create the movement seen in this movie sequence.
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Cassini has monitored Enceladus (313 miles or 504 kilometers across) with a particular interest in the plumes and the geology of the south polar region for many years. Different viewing geometries give scientists different information, and the resulting animation gives us a unique "spacecraft's eye" view of the flyby.

The movie is a composite of six images taken with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Aug. 1, 2017 using filters that allow infrared, green, and ultraviolet light. The image filter centered on 930 nm (IR) was is red in this image, the image filter centered on the green is green, and the image filter centered on 338 nm (UV) is blue.

The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 112,000 miles (181,000 kilometers) from Enceladus. Image scale is about 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) per pixel.

The Cassini mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

For more information about the Cassini-Huygens mission visit https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and https://www.nasa.gov/cassini. The Cassini imaging team homepage is at http://ciclops.org.

Credit

NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute

ENLARGE
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tnt22

ЦитироватьCassini-Huygens: Historic adventure

European Space Agency, ESA

Опубликовано: 4 сент. 2017 г.

Cassini-Huygens was launched on 15 October 1997 from Cape Canaveral, Florida.After nearly 13 years in orbit around Saturn, the international Cassini-Huygens mission is going through its final chapter: NASA's Cassini spacecraft is performing a series of daring dives between the planet and its rings, leading to a dramatic final plunge into Saturn's atmosphere on 15 September.
Спойлер
On 14 January 2005, ESA's Huygens probe, which hitched a ride to the Saturn system attached to Cassini during the seven-year voyage, entered the history books by descending to the surface of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. This was humanity's first successful attempt to land a probe on another world in the outer Solar System.

Huygens made a 21-day solo cruise toward the haze-shrouded moon. Plunging into Titan's atmosphere, the probe touched down safely on Titan's frozen surface.

Huygens provided a stream of data representing a unique treasure trove of in situ measurements from the planet-sized satellite which scientists are still mining today.

This video recalls the 'one of a kind' journey of Huygens.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stFJjVGKSWwhttps://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stFJjVGKSWw (4:50)

tnt22

https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/3086/nine-ways-cassini-matters-no-3/
ЦитироватьSeptember 5, 2017

Nine Ways Cassini Matters: No. 3


With giant Saturn hanging in the blackness and sheltering Cassini from the sun's blinding glare, the spacecraft viewed the rings as never before, revealing previously unknown faint rings and even glimpsing its home world. > Full image and caption
Cassini is, in a sense, a time machine. It has given us a portal to see the physical processes that likely shaped the development of our solar system, as well as planetary systems around other stars.

Cassini has provided a brief glimpse into deep time in the Saturn system. The rings, for example, are a natural laboratory for processes that form planets—a mini solar system, if you will. They show us how objects clump together and break apart. And in the ripples we can read the history of impacts into the rings. We also see "propeller" features that obey the same physical processes that form planets.
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NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured these remarkable views of a propeller feature in Saturn's A ring on Feb. 21, 2017.
Moons in the Saturn system are also time capsules preserving histories of bombardment and other forces at play over time. At Titan, in particular, we have access to the kinds of complex carbon chemistry that might have taken place on Earth in its "prebiotic" days. During the Cassini mission's finale, data about the planet's interior and the mass of the rings will provide a powerful insights about their formation and evolution.
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tnt22

Цитировать CassiniSaturn‏Подлинная учетная запись @CassiniSaturn 13 мин. назад

9 days to go. We've racked up some impressive numbers during our tour: https://go.nasa.gov/2gr7rCd 
https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/cassini-quick-facts/
ЦитироватьQuick Facts
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A snapshot of some of the impressive numbers Cassini amassed during its 20 year mission.
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MILESTONES
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Launch: Oct. 15, 1997, from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida

Launch vehicle: Titan IVB/ Centaur

Venus flybys: April 26, 1998, at 176 miles (234 km); June 24, 1999, at 370 miles (600 kilometers)

Earth flyby: Aug. 18, 1999, at 727 miles (1,171 kilometers)

Jupiter flyby: Dec. 30, 2000, at 6 million miles (10 mil- lion kilometers); closest approach at 5:12 a.m. EST Saturn arrival: July 1, 2004, UTC (June 30, 2004 PDT)

Huygens Probe: Titan Release Dec. 24, 2004; Titan Descent Jan. 14, 2005
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CASSINI ORBITER
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Dimensions: 22 feet (6.7 meters) high; 13.1 feet (4 meters) wide

Weight at launch: 12,593 pounds (5,712 kilograms) with fuel, Huygens probe, adapter, etc.

Weight at end of mission: 4,685 pounds (2,125 kilograms)

Propellant used: 6504 pounds out of 6565 pounds (2950 kilograms out of 2978 kilograms)

Power: 885 watts (633 watts at end of mission) from radioisotope thermoelectric generators

Orbiter science instruments (12 total):composite infra- red spectrometer (CIRS), imaging system (ISS), ultra- violet imaging spectrograph (UVIS), visual and infrared mapping spectrometer (VIMS), imaging radar (Radar), radio science (RSS), plasma spectrometer (CAPS), cosmic dust analyzer (CDA), ion and neutral mass spectrometer (INMS), magnetometer (MAG), magne- tospheric imaging instrument (MIMI), radio and plasma wave science (RPWS).

Details about all of Cassini's science instruments: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/spacecraft/cassini-orbiter
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MISSION
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Commands Executed: 2.5 million

GB of Science Data Collected: 635 GB

Saturn Orbits Completed: 293 at end of mission

Targeted moon flybys: 162

Targeted Titan Flybys: 127

Targeted Enceladus Flybys: 23

Images Taken: 453,048

Main Engine Burns: 183

Oceans Discovered: 2 (Titan, Enceladus)

Titan Seas and Lakes Discovered: 3 seas, hundreds of small lakes

Named Moons Discovered: 6

Science Papers Published: 3,948

Primary mission: 4 years

Two extended missions: Equinox (2008-2010) and Solstice (2010-2017)

Total distance traveled: At Cassini's end of mission, the spacecraft will have traveled about 4.9 billion miles (7.8 billion kilometers) with respect to the Sun; this distance includes its 2.1 billion-mile (3.4-billion kilometer) interplanetary trajectory from Earth to Saturn. With respect to Saturn, Cassini traveled a total of 1.2 billion miles (1.9 million kilometers) from arrival to end of mission.

Saturn's average distance from Earth: 890 million miles (1.43 billion kilometers)

One-way speed-of-light time from Saturn to Earth during orbital tour: Varies between 67 and 85 minutes

One-way speed-of-light time from Saturn to Earth at end of mission: 83 minutes

Spacecraft speed at loss of signal (relative to Saturn): 69,368 mph (111,637 kph)
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PROGRAM
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Partners: NASA, European Space Agency (ESA), Italian Space Agency (Agenzia Spaziale Italiana or ASI) Number of people who worked on some portion  of Cassini-Huygens: More than 5,000

Number of people who worked on some portion of Cassini-Huygens: More than 5,000

Cost of mission: $3.9 billion. This figure includes $2.5 billion in pre-launch costs (including launch vehicle and contributions from ESA and the Italian Space Agency), and $1.4 billion in post-launch costs (including opera- tions and tracking for 20 years in flight).​
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