Chapter 1

Current Space Missions

Cassini-Huygens

Website: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/ Launch date: October 1997 Mission: This is a joint mission between NASA

and the European Space Agency (ESA). NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will orbit Saturn for four years, making an extensive survey of the planet and its moons. The ESA Huygens probe’s mission was to land on the surface of Titan, Saturn’s mysterious and largest moon. Titan is the only moon in our solar system to have an atmosphere.

Cassini-Huygens

Accomplishments: Cassini: The spacecraft arrived in Saturn in

July 2004 and became the first to orbit Saturn. It has provided the most detailed images ever of Saturn, its rings and moons.

Huygens: The Huygens probe landed on Titan on January 14th. It is the first to land on a world in the outer Solar System.

Cassini-Huygens

Notables: The spacecraft made

four gravity-assist swing-by maneuvers after it left Earth in order to reach Saturn. Two of these were around Venus while the others were around Earth and Jupiter. As a form of reference, the swing-bys provided the equivalent of 75 tons of rocket fuel (The spacecraft actually uses plutonium for fuel).

Cassini-Huygens

Update: Scientists reported yesterday that they believed Huygens landed on mud.

Current location: Huygens rests frozen at -180 degrees Celsius on Titan's landscape. Cassini continues to orbit Saturn.

Spirit and Opportunity Rovers

Website: http://marsrovers.jpl.nasa.gov/ Launch date: June and July 2003

respectively. Arrival date: Both rovers landed on

opposite sides of Mars in January 2004. They used a combination of parachutes, retro-rockets and air-bags to perform the landing.

Spirit and Opportunity Rovers

Mission: The twin rovers are part of NASA’s Mars Exploration

Program whose main objective is to determine whether currently or in the past there has been life on Mars. Spirit’s and Opportunity’s main objective is to search for clues of past water activity on Mars. Also they will make geological and environmental studies of Mars.

The rovers are equipped with various cameras, spectrometers (used for analyzing rock properties), a powerful grinder called a Rock Abrasion Tool (RAT), and a magnet.

Spirit and Opportunity Rovers

Accomplishments: Rovers have discovered rocks that only a significant

amount of liquid water could have created. It is now believed that Mars had seas, and perhaps oceans, in the past.

Rovers have returned over 60,000 images of Mars: 360 degree view Plains Burns cliff Hills

Spirit and Opportunity Rovers

Notables: Rovers were designed to last 90 days but

after a year both are still going strong. Spirit has journeyed about 2 and a half miles from its landing site.

Current location: Spirit is in the “Columbia Hills”. Opportunity is on the plains of the Meriadini Planum.

Mars Orbiters

Mars Global Surveyor - Arrived in Mars in September 1997 and performed a basic overview of Mars.

Mars Odyssey – Arrived in October 2001 and continued Surveyor’s mapping mission on Mars.

Mars Orbiters

Mars Express Orbiter and Beagle 2 Lander Arrived in Mars in December 2003 ESA mission Beagle 2 was lost upon trying to land on Mars