Spacecraft

@Nasa (Cassini)

Launch

The spacecraft was launched on October 15, 1997 , on a Titan 4 rocket from Cape Canaveral , Florida . It has two main components, namely,

•  Cassini orbiter, which has a mass of 2,125-kilogram (4,685-pound), and

•  Huygens probes which has a mass of 320-kilogram (705-pound).

On its way to Saturn, Cassini, flew past other planets to borrow gravitational energy for increasing its speed. It flew past Earth and Jupiter once, and Venus twice. Cassini is likely to enter the Saturn orbit on July 1, 2004 , and the Huygens probe will land on the surface of Titan on January 14, 2005.

Construction

The spacecraft is very sophisticated and carries numerous instruments to examine and study various characteristics of Saturn.  

The spacecraft is made of two important components; the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe. Both these components have different functions to perform. Both of them carry various instruments and are equipped with different systems and sub- systems.

Let us see the instruments carried by cassini.