Backgrounder: Major Facts of Cassini Space Probe of Saturn
Posted on: Friday, 2 July 2004, 06:00 CDT
Backgrounder: Major facts of Cassini space probe of Saturn
BEIJING, July 2 (Xinhua) -- The US-European spacecraft Cassini became the first man-made object that orbits Saturn late Wednesday for a four-year study of the planet and its rings that can reportedly help understand how planets of the solar system evolved.
Following are major facts about the mission:
CASSINI:
Cassini, named after 17th century Italian-French astronomer Jean Dominique Cassini, who discovered four Saturn moons, was sent to explore Saturn, its rings, magnetic fields and icy moons.
Power: Nuclear powered
Launch: Oct. 15, 1997, from Cape Canaveral, Florida
Saturn arrival: June 30, 2004 PT (July 1 GMT)
Flight distance to Saturn: 3.5 billion km
Primary mission: four years
Cost: 3.27 billion US dollars, including 2.6 billion dollars from the United States and 660 million dollars from Europe
Size: 6.6 meters long and 3.9 meters wide
Weight: 5,712 kg.
Instruments: 18 in total, including cameras, ultraviolet imaging spectrograph, radar, plasma spectrometer, infrared spectrometer, ion and neutral mass spectrometer, magnetometer, cosmic dust analyzer
Development partners: the US NASA, the European Space Agency, the Italian space agency Agenzia Spaziale Italiana
Personnel and countries involved: abut 260 scientists from 18 countries
HUYGENS PROBE:
The Huygens probe will explore Titan, Saturn's largest moon believed to have a "pre-biotic" environment. The craft, developed by the European Space Agency, is named after 17th century Dutch astronomer Christiaan Huygens.
Size: about 2.7 meters in diameter and 317 kg in weight
Release from Cassini: Dec. 24, 2004
Titan landing: Jan. 14, 2005
Instruments: imaging equipment, Doppler wind experiment, gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer, atmospheric structure instrument, surface science package
SATURN FACTS:
6th planet from the sun
Distance from sun: 1.43 billion km or about 10 times as far as Earth and twice as far as Jupiter
Number of moons: 31 known
Number of rings: seven
Saturn year (time to orbit around the sun): 29.42 Earth years
Saturn day (time to rotate): about 10.5 hours
Related Articles
- Cassini Eyes Evidence Of Ammonia On Saturnian Moon
- Hubble Captures Transit of Four Saturnian Moons
- Landis+Gyr Signs Four-Year Advanced Metering Contract With PG&E
- Cassini Prepares to Fly by Walnut-Shaped Moon
- Canadian Astronaut Says Work on Space Station Sets Stage for Moon, Mars Mission
- Cassini Shows Enceladus to be a Very Active Moon
- Space Penguin Could Hop Around Moon to Explore
- New Jersey Could Lose Billions in Federal Dollars
- Air Found Encircling 2nd Moon of Saturn ; Cassini Discovery Baffles Scientists
- Spacecraft on Track to Go into Orbit Around Saturn ; Cassini Set to Thread Gap Between Rings
 |
 |
User Comments (0)
RSS Feeds