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Launched on October 6, 1997, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft is scheduled to be inserted in Saturn's orbit on July 1, 2004 and is expected to take 4 years to complete. This mission is an international collaboration of 17 countries including the United States, France, Germany, Italy, Great Britain, Netherlands, Austria, Finland, Norway, Sweden, Hungary, Ireland, Spain, Czech Republic, Switzerland, Denmark, and Belgium.
The probe will complete its descent to Titan's surface on november 27, 2004. After the probe has hit the surface, the Cassini Orbiter will continue to listen for 30 minutes, in the event that tranmission continues after landing. After the Cassini Orbiter has completed collecting information from the probe, it will transmit the data to Earth. When data is received on Earth, the probe mission will be completed and the orbiter tour will begin. The orbiter portion of the mission will last four years and consist of 74 orbits around Saturn with various orientations. The orientations will range from 7 to 155 days and Saturn-centered periapsis will range from 2.6 to 15.8 Saturn radii. Inclinations will range from 0 to 75 degrees. During the orbiter tour, 43 Titan flybys will occur ranging from 2500 km to 8000 km in altitude. This is done to control the orbit of the spacecraft around Saturn as well as to collect more scientific data from Titan. Titan flybys are crucial in controlling Cassini's orbit around Saturn because a close flyby could increase velocity by hundreds of meters per second, thus saving propellent for other adjustments of the spacecraft. The tour will also contain close and distant flybys of 36 icy satellites in Saturn's orbit. "When the Cassini Orbiter and Huygens Probe arrive at Titan, they will provide us with our first close-up view of Saturn's largest satellite. With the Probe's slow descent through Titan's atmosphere - with images of the surface and chemical composition data - and the Orbiter's radar maps of the moon's surface, we will once again be shown another world" (Spilker). |
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