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Odd that it's flying through the rings. I mean, good to see what they're made up of and all, but a bit of bad luck means a big rock bonking it. Which can't be good.Shooting Through the Rings of Saturn Space Probe May Answer Mysteries
Big Stone Gap, Va. -- Space science enthusiasts will be glued to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) web site Wednesday evening to determine if the American-European made space probe Cassini-Huygens has swept through the colorful rings of Saturn intact and fully operational after the seven-year, 2.2-billion mile flight through space.
The Saturn ring plane of shattered rock and ice poses many potential hazards for the $3.3 billion spacecraft mission. But if the spacecraft is successful, the rockets will fire to slow its speed to be captured by Saturn's gravity for its planned 4-year orbital science mission.
The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft is expected to yield answers to many science mysteries and provide the public with spectacular images of Saturn and its many moons. The moon Phoebe was recently photographed by the space probe providing mission scientists and planetary astronomers the best images yet of the object orbiting at the edge of the planet's gravitational influence.
On July 1, 2004 the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft will fire its main engine to reduce its speed, allowing the spacecraft to be captured by Saturn's gravity and enter orbit. The spacecraft will then begin a four-year tour of the ringed planet, its mysterious moons, the stunning rings, and its complex magnetic environment, according to the spacecraft's NASA web page at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL).
During the Saturn Tour, Cassini will complete 74 orbits of the ringed planet, 44 close flybys of the mysterious moon Titan, and numerous flybys of Saturn's other icy moons assuming the spacecraft remains operational and returns data to Earth.
But the highlight of the mission for most humans will be when the Huygens explorer spacecraft is launched from its mother ship Cassini Christmas Day, December 25, 2004 for a slow decent and landing on the moon Titan January 14, 2005. It is hoped that the Huygens probe will return a wealth of data about the moon's dense atmosphere and actually land (or splashdown) on the moon's surface returning to Earth the first images from a Solar System moon other than Earth's own.
Unlike the two Mars Exploration Rovers, Huygens will be stationary on landing if it is not floating in a small sea of hydrocarbons. The mission plans calls for the probe to relay images from the surface to the Cassini probe to subsequently transmit to Earth to JPL mission scientists and the public.
Assuming a successful landing and quality imagery from Titan's surface, humans will be confronted with an alien world that little is known about as compared to Venus, Mars or Earth's moon. The findings could be startling to casual daily science news buffs around the world who have not followed the mission planning details.
Titan and the Jupiter moon Europa are among the top candidates for any life beyond Mars yet to be found off Earth but in this solar system. NASA is planning a mission to Jupiter to orbit Jupiter's moons Europa, Callisto, and Ganymede to launch in 2012 using a new nuclear fission reactor propulsion system.
