Cassini-Huygens Spacecraft

The Cassini-Huygens Spacecraft was a US planetary probe, designed for exploration of Saturn, its rings and moons system. It was launched in 1997 and the European Space Research Organisation ESA and the Italian space agency ASI were jointly helping with creation of its instrumentation. The probe had two separate parts: the parent Cassini (named after the Italian astronomer Giovanni Domenico Cassini) and an atmospheric probe Huygens (named after Dutch scientists Christiaan Huygens).

NASA center in Pasadena was in charge of ground monitoring of the radio signal emitted by the probe, firstly to study the Earth's high atmosphere and ionosphere and secondly, to determine the properties of the gravitational field of Saturn and its moons.

During the interplanetary orbit and in the initial phase of Cassini's orbit flight around the planet, the Huygens probe, designed to explore the moon Titan, has been connected to the spacecraft.

Cassini's original mission was planned to last for four years, from June 2004 to May 2008. The mission was extended twice until September 15, 2017, on which date Cassini was de-orbited to burn up in Saturn's upper atmosphere.

The Huygens module traveled with Cassini until its separation from the probe on December 25, 2004; it was landed by parachute on Titan on January 14, 2005. This was the first landing ever accomplished in the outer Solar System and the first landing on a moon other than our own.

At the end of its mission, the Cassini spacecraft executed the "Grand Finale" of its mission: a number of risky passes through the gaps between Saturn and Saturn's inner rings.The purpose of this phase was to maximize Cassini's scientific outcome before the spacecraft was disposed. The atmospheric entry of Cassini ended the mission, but analyses of the returned data will continue for many years.