JPL and the Space Age: Triumph at Saturn – Part II (NASA Documentary)

Cassini reached Saturn in July 2004 and spent more than 13 years studying the planet. The mission was noted for its many significant discoveries, including detailed studies of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, and the discovery of geysers erupting from another moon, Enceladus. The spacecraft was named after the Italian-French astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini, who made many important discoveries about Saturn. Credit: NASA/JPL

With the Cassini spacecraft, built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, safely in orbit around Saturn, science takes center stage, beginning with the dramatic descent of the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe to the surface of Saturn’s shrouded moon Titan.

For some scientists, Titan has been a higher priority for exploration than even Saturn itself. That’s because Titan may resemble what Earth was like billions of years ago. There, Huygens and Cassini will find lakes and seas of liquid methane and signs of volcanos gushing out icy water from an ocean hidden beneath Titan’s icy shell. And whenever water is mentioned, it’s not long before the question is raised: “Is this a place that could possibly support life?” The same question will be asked about Saturn’s moon Enceladus, where geysers were found to be spewing water ice particles out into space. These are but two of the unexpected discoveries made by this international mission that won over the hearts of millions worldwide while fundamentally altering the way we view our solar system.

Chronicling the story of NASA’s Cassini mission, this is the latest in a series of documentaries, “JPL and the Space Age.” These films use rare archival footage and interviews with pioneering engineers and scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in retelling of many of humanity’s first steps into the cosmos. Credit: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory