Here’s What We’ve Learned About Saturn Thanks to Cassini
In the summer of 2004, NASA's Cassini spacecraft began orbiting Saturn, kicking off a mission that would change how we understand the planet and its moons. This historic mission, a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency, yielded incredible insights over 13 years. As we look back on Cassini's legacy, we also anticipate the exciting future of Saturn's exploration.
Cassini’s Historic Mission
Cassini-Huygens was a monumental project designed to study Saturn and its many moons. After being launched in 1997, the spacecraft traveled 4.9 billion miles to Saturn. It captured over 450,000 images and generated nearly 4,000 scientific papers. The mission had two parts: the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe. These components gave us incredible new information about Saturn's atmosphere, rings, and moons, especially Titan and Enceladus.