All you need to know about Cassini–Huygens‬‬.

Animated Model of Spacecraft

Cassini–Huygens is an unmanned spacecraft sent to the planet Saturn. It is a Flagship-class NASA–ESA–ASI robotic spacecraft. Cassini is the fourth space probe to visit Saturn and the first to enter orbit, and its mission is ongoing as of April 2017.

Google “Cassini Huygens” and this is what it will show up! So what is it all about? Lets explore!

Animated model of the spacecraft.

A mission to Saturn

Cassini–Huygens is an unmanned spacecraft sent to the planet Saturn.
The mission consists of two main elements: the ASI/NASA Cassini orbiter, named for the Italian-French astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini, discoverer of Saturn’s ring divisions and four of its satellites; and the ESA-developed Huygens probe, named for the Dutch astronomer, mathematician and physicist Christiaan Huygens, discoverer of Titan.

Saturn by Cassini

Objectives?

1. Determine the three-dimensional structure and dynamic behavior of the rings of Saturn.
2. Determine the composition of the satellite surfaces and the geological history of each object.
3. Determine the nature and origin of the dark material on Iapetus’s leading hemisphere.
4. Measure the three-dimensional structure and dynamic behavior of the magnetosphere.
5. Study the dynamic behavior of Saturn’s atmosphere at cloud level.
6. Study the time variability of Titan’s clouds and hazes.
   Characterize Titan’s surface on a regional scale.

Cassini discovered that the icy Saturn moon Enceladus conceals a sub-surface, salty ocean beneath its crust, and may be able to support living microbes.

Hot plutonium bar. Power source of the spacecraft.

Disposal

The chosen mission ending involves a series of close Saturn passes, approaching within the rings, then an entry into Saturn’s atmosphere on September 15, 2017 to destroy the spacecraft.