Cassini-Huygens

Jet Propulsion Laboratory technicians about to subject the newly built Saturn probe to lengthy ‘shake and bake’ tests to simulate the extreme temperatures Cassini will encounter on its voyage and the forces and vibration of lift-off.

The gravity-assisted flight path of the Cassini space probe. After rocket-powered launch at point 1, Cassini's flight is boosted at point 2 by the gravity of Venus. It then fires its rockets at point 3 to bring it into position for the next Venus fly-by at point 4. When it reaches Earth orbit at point 5 it gains enough energy from the Earth's solar orbit to arc out towards Saturn, reducing its flight time by encountering Jupiter en route.

Space probe developed jointly by NASA and the European Space Agency to explore the planet Saturn. Cassini was launched on 15 October 1997 to study the planet's atmosphere, rings, and moons, and to drop off a sub-probe, Huygens, to land on Saturn's largest moon, Titan. The mission passed Saturn's moon Phoebe in June 2004 and achieved orbit insertion around Saturn on 1 July 2004.

The Huygens probe parachuted to the surface of Titan on 14 January 2005, returning images of the surface during the descent and after landing.

The Cassini-Huygens mission was launched on a Titan 4 rocket, with its electricity supplied by 32 kg/70 lb of plutonium. This was the largest amount of plutonium ever to be sent into space, and provoked fears of contamination should Cassini, or its rocket, malfunction.