The Cassini-Huygens mission was a collaborative NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and ASI (Italian Space Agency) project that studied Saturn and its complex system of rings and moons. Launched on October 15, 1997, Cassini was a sophisticated robotic spacecraft that orbited Saturn from July 2004 until September 2017, providing a wealth of data that transformed our understanding of the ringed planet, its moons, magnetic environment, and the entire Saturnian system. The spacecraft was equipped to carry out detailed studies of Saturn’s atmosphere, the composition and behavior of its rings, and the geology and composition of its moons.
Researchers from Cornell University have utilized bistatic radar data from Cassini’s flybys of Titan to analyze the surface properties of its hydrocarbon seas. The study…
A Lancaster University PhD student has measured the optical depth of Saturn’s rings using a new method based on how much sunlight reached the Cassini…
Researchers from Freie Universität Berlin have discovered phosphorus in the subsurface ocean of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. The search for extraterrestrial life in our solar system…
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…
Saturn’s moon Enceladus contains phosphates, a key building block of life, at levels significantly higher than Earth’s oceans, suggesting potential habitability, according to a study…
In 1997 an ambitious international mission, led by NASA’S Jet Propulsion Laboratory, launches to Saturn. The goal is to place a spacecraft around the planet…
Phosphorus, a key chemical element for many biological processes, has been found in icy grains emitted by the small moon and is likely abundant in…
Southwest Research Institute helped find evidence for phosphorus in the liquid water ocean beneath the moon’s icy surface. Researchers, using data from NASA’s Cassini mission,…
NASA’s Cassini mission data suggests that Saturn’s rings are young, possibly only a few hundred million years old, and could disappear in a similar timescale….
A study published in Nature Astronomy concludes that known geochemical processes can’t explain the levels of methane measured by the Cassini spacecraft on Saturn’s icy…
New research on nine craters of Saturn’s largest moon provides more details about how weathering affects the evolution of the surface — and what lies…
A global infrared mosaic of Saturn’s moon Enceladus created using a complete dataset from the Cassini spacecraft has revealed new detail on the moon’s surface….
Scientists used data gathered by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft during 13 years of exploring the Saturn system to make detailed images of the icy moon —…
The new research by scientists at NASA and the Italian Space Agency has implications for the entire Saturn system as well as other planets and…
High-resolution images obtained by the Cassini spacecraft were used for this purpose by the Planetary Science Group at the University of the Basque Country. A…
New mapping of the giant planet’s upper atmosphere reveals likely reason why it’s so hot. The upper layers in the atmospheres of gas giants —…
Fifteen years ago, ESA’s Huygens probe made history when it descended to the surface of Saturn’s moon Titan and became the first probe to successfully…
Saturn’s tiny, frozen moon Enceladus is a strange place. Just 300 miles (480 kilometers) across, the moon is thought to have an outer shell of…