Cassini To Venus
Explanation:
NASA's
Saturn Explorer Cassini with
ESA's Titan Probe Huygens attached
successfully rocketed into the skies early yesterday morning.
The mighty Titan 4B Centaur rocket
is seen here across the water gracefully arcing away
from Launch Complex 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Station.
Cassini, a sophisticated,
bus-sized robot spacecraft
is now on its way ...
to Venus,
the first planetary way point in its 7 year, 2.2 billion mile
journey to Saturn.
The mission profile calls for Cassini to swing by Venus during
April 1998 and June 1999, Earth in August 1999,
and Jupiter in December 2000.
During each of these
"gravity assist" encounters the six ton
spacecraft will pick up energy needed to
reach Saturn in July 2004.
Cassini's mission is the most ambitious voyage of
interplanetary exploration ever mounted
by humanity and the Huygens Probe's planned descent to
the surface of Titan
will be the most distant landing ever attempted.
Authors & editors:
Robert Nemiroff
(MTU) &
Jerry Bonnell
(USRA)
NASA Web Site Statements, Warnings,
and Disclaimers
NASA Official: Jay Norris.
Specific
rights apply.
A service of:
LHEA at
NASA /
GSFC
& Michigan Tech. U.
