NASACassini-Huygens Saturn Orbiter - 1997-061A
Cassini
13 years orbiting Saturn, ending in a planned grand finale plunge
PHASE 01
Launch
Oct 15, 1997 ✓
PHASE 02
Saturn orbit insertion
Jul 1, 2004 ✓
PHASE 03
Huygens landing on Titan
Jan 14, 2005 ✓
PHASE 04
Extended mission
2008-2010 ✓
PHASE 05
Solstice mission
2010-2017 ✓
PHASE 06
Grand Finale plunge
Sep 15, 2017 ✓
- Telemetry
Cassini at a glance.
Duration
19y 11m
Saturn orbits
294
Titan flybys
127
Images returned
453,048
- Status
Saturn's greatest portrait artist.
After a ten-year cruise that included flybys of Venus, Earth, and Jupiter, Cassini arrived at Saturn in July 2004 and spent 13 years exploring the ringed planet, its moons, and its magnetosphere. The Huygens probe landed on Titan in January 2005, revealing a world with methane lakes and a thick atmosphere.
Cassini discovered geysers of water ice on Enceladus, suggesting a subsurface ocean. The mission ended with a planned plunge into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15, 2017.