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Phoenix update

Scientists report on the progress of the Phoenix lander exploring the northern plains of Mars during this July 31 update.

 Briefing | Panorama

Expedition 18 crew

The American, Russian and Japanese crewmembers to serve aboard the space station during various stages of the Expedition 18 mission, plus spaceflight participant Richard Garriott hold this pre-flight news conference.

 Play

STS-94: Rapid re-flight

Three months after their 1997 flight was cut short by a fuel cell problem, the same seven astronauts returned to space aboard shuttle Columbia to fulfill the Spacelab science mission. The STS-94 crew tells the story in this post-flight presentation.

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STS-124: In review

The STS-124 crew narrates highlights from its mission that delivered Japan's Kibo lab module to the station.

 Full presentation
 Mission film

Jason 2 launch

A ULA Delta 2 rocket launched the Jason 2 oceanography satellite from Vandenberg Air Force Base on June 20.

 Full Coverage

Jason 2 preview

The joint American and European satellite project called Jason 2 will monitor global seal levels.

 Mission | Science

STS-124 space shuttle mission coverage

Extensive video collection covering shuttle Discovery's mission to deliver the Japanese Kibo science lab to the station is available in the archives.

 Full Coverage

Phoenix lands on Mars

The Phoenix spacecraft arrived at Mars on May 25, safely landing on the northern plains to examine the soil and water ice.

 Full Coverage

STS-82: In review

The second servicing of the Hubble Space Telescope was accomplished in Feb. 1997 when the shuttle astronauts replaced a pair of instruments and other internal equipment on the observatory.

 Play

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Cassini begins transmitting data from Enceladus flyby
NASA/JPL NEWS RELEASE
Posted: August 12, 2008


Artist concept of Cassini flying by Enceladus. Credit: NASA/JPL
 
Shortly after 9:03 p.m. Pacific Time on Monday night, the Cassini spacecraft began sending data to Earth following a close flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus. During closest approach, Cassini successfully passed only 50 kilometers (30 miles) from the surface of the tiny moon.

Cassini's signal was picked up by the Deep Space Network station in Canberra, Australia, and relayed to the Cassini mission control at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.

"We are happy to report that Cassini's begun sending data home," said Julie Webster, Cassini team chief at JPL. "The downlink will continue through the night and into tomorrow morning.²

Closest approach occurred at approximately 3:21 p.m. PDT, while Cassini was traveling at a swift 17.7 kilometers per second (40,000 miles per hour) relative to Enceladus.

During the flyby, Cassini focused its cameras and other remote sensing instruments on Enceladus with an emphasis on the moon's south pole where parallel stripes or fissures dubbed "tiger stripes" line the region. That area is of particular interest because geysers of water-ice and vapor jet out of the fissures and supply material to Saturn's E-ring. Scientists hope to learn more about the fissures and whether liquid water is indeed the engine powering the geysers.

"There is a lot of anticipation and excitement about what today's flyby might reveal," said Bob Pappalardo, Cassini project scientist, also of JPL. ³Over the next few days and weeks, the Cassini teams will be analyzing the photos and other data to tease out new clues about this tiny, active world".

Two more Enceladus flybys are planned for October. The first of those will cut Monday's flyby distance in half and bring the spacecraft to a remarkable 25 kilometers (16 miles) from the surface. Enceladus measures about 500 kilometers (310 miles) in diameter--just one-seventh the diameter of Earth's moon.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.

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