NASA Cassini Mission Status Report December 28, 2004

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft successfully performed a getaway maneuver on
Monday, Dec. 27, to keep it from following the European Space Agency’s
Huygens probe into the atmosphere of Saturn’s moon Titan. This maneuver
established the required geometry between the probe and the orbiter for
radio communications during the probe descent on Jan. 14. The probe has
no navigating capability, so the Cassini orbiter had been placed on a
deliberate collision course with Titan to ensure the accurate delivery
of the probe to Titan.

The Huygens probe successfully detached from the Cassini orbiter on
Dec.
24. All systems performed as expected.

The European Space Agency’s Huygens probe will be the first human- made
object to explore on-site the unique environment of Titan, whose
chemistry is thought to be very similar to that of early Earth before
life arose.

Next for Cassini is a flyby of Saturn’s icy moon Iapetus on Dec. 31.
Iapetus is Saturn’s two-faced moon — one side is very bright, and the
other is very dark. One scenario for this striking difference is that
the moon’s surface is being resurfaced by some material spewing from
within.

The Cassini spacecraft has been in orbit around Saturn since June 30,
2004, and has returned stunning pictures of Saturn, its rings and many
moons. Titan has already been the subject of two close flybys by
Cassini. With 43 more flybys planned and the in-situ measurements made
by the probe, it is likely only a matter of time before Titan’s secrets
begin to unfold.

More information on the Cassini-Huygens mission is available at:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov and http://www.nasa.gov/cassini .

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the
European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of
the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini
mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. JPL
designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter. The European
Space Agency built and managed the development of the Huygens probe and
is in charge of the probe operations. The Italian Space Agency provided
the high-gain antenna, much of the radio system and elements of several
of Cassini’s science instruments.