Public Lecture (free)
Presenter: Dr. Robert T. Mitchell, Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
ENGR 209, 3:00 PM

The Cassini/Huygens mission is a joint endeavor between NASA and the European Space Agency to conduct an intensive investigation of Saturn, its rings, moons, and magnetosphere.  The spacecraft was launched on October 15, 1997, arrived at Saturn on July 1, 2004, the Huygens atmospheric probe entered and descended through the atmosphere of Titan on January 14, 2005, and the Cassini orbiter is now well over a year into its nominal four year orbital tour of the Saturnian system.  This presentation will describe the spacecraft, the trajectory that carried the spacecraft well beyond the capabilities of the launch vehicle, and overall mission characteristics.  New science results, old questions answered, new questions raised, and spectacular images of the satellites and rings are presented.