2004-06-03 | MISSIONS
Cassini-Huygens Will Unlock Saturn's Secrets

After a nearly seven-year journey, the international Cassini-Huygens mission is poised to enter into orbit around Saturn on June 30th. The mission will spend four years studying Saturn with 18 highly sophisticated science instruments. Through Cassini, scientists hope to gain a better understanding of Saturn, its famous rings, its magnetosphere, Titan, and its other icy moons.

The spacecraft will release its piggybacked Huygens probe about six months after arriving in orbit for descent through Titan's thick atmosphere. The probe could impact in what may be a liquid methane ocean. Titan is of particular interest to astrobiologists because it is the only known moon in the Solar System with its own atmosphere. Studying the organic chemistry of Titan's atmosphere, which resembles that of early Earth, may help scientists understand the origin of life on our planet. Understanding how life emerges from cosmic and planetary precursors is a primary goal of astrobiology.

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