Cassini – Spaceflight Now

ESA’s Huygens probe landed on Saturn’s moon Titan 15 years ago

January 14, 2020 Stephen Clark

Fifteen years after accomplishing the first-ever landing on Saturn’s moon Titan, lessons learned from the European Space Agency’s Huygens spacecraft continue aiding designers of future planetary probes, according to new results from a study looking at why the landing craft spun the wrong way as it descended through Titan’s thick, hazy atmosphere.

Saturn’s clouds run deep, rings may rain organics

April 6, 2018 Stephen Clark

Saturn’s clouds have roots deeper inside the planet’s atmosphere than scientists previously thought, and Saturn’s rings — now believed to have formed in the last 200 million years — appear to be raining organic molecules down on the planet, according to observations made by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft last year in the final weeks of its mission.

Saturn’s night side caught in “ringshine”

February 19, 2018 Stephen Clark

In the final hours of its pioneering mission, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft opened its cameras to gaze down on Saturn, recording views of a nighttime cloudscape illuminated by sunlight reflected off countless tiny ice particles in the planet’s rings.

Cassini’s farewell to Saturn

November 26, 2017 Stephen Clark

Two days before its final plunge into Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft turned its camera toward the ringed world to take a series of images for a color mosaic, capturing a last evocative close-up until a new mission reaches the planet.

Cassini results still keeping scientists busy

October 19, 2017 Stephen Clark

Scientists examining data from the Cassini mission’s final months reported this week unexpected measurements of Saturn’s gravity field and outer atmosphere, suggesting they may have to revisit theories about the planet’s rings and the forces that generate magnetic fields.

Cassini crashes into Saturn, ending 20-year mission

September 15, 2017 William Harwood

Dutifully beaming back data to the very end, NASA’s long-lived Cassini probe slammed into Saturn’s atmosphere at some 77,000 mph Friday, blazing like a shooting star as it was ripped apart and incinerated in the final chapter of an enormously successful mission.

Cassini races toward fiery mission-ending plunge into Saturn

September 14, 2017 William Harwood

Thirteen years after reaching Saturn, NASA’s nuclear-powered Cassini spacecraft raced through its 294th and final orbit Thursday, collecting priceless data while hurtling toward a kamikaze-like plunge into the ringed planet’s atmosphere Friday, going out in a blaze of glory to wrap up an “insanely” successful mission.

NASA releases inside-out view of Saturn’s rings

August 28, 2017 Stephen Clark

Continuing to make discoveries in the final weeks of a historic mission at Saturn, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has recorded a unique time lapse movie looking out toward the planet’s iconic icy rings.

NASA counts down final month of Cassini’s tour of Saturn

August 15, 2017 Stephen Clark

NASA’s Cassini orbiter sailed through the tenuous outermost reaches of Saturn’s atmosphere without trouble Monday, performing the first of five close swings nearer to the planet than any previous spacecraft before a final dive Sept. 15 to end the probe’s nearly 20-year mission.

Cassini survives closest brush with Saturn’s inner ring

May 30, 2017 Stephen Clark

Barreling through space near the inner edge of Saturn’s wispy D ring, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shielded from itself bits of ice and dust Sunday as the probe made its most dangerous plunge close to the planet, collecting spectacular edge-on views of Saturn’s rings with an on-board camera.