Introduction to Cassini-Huygens Mission

The Cassini-Huygens mission is an international scientific collaboration, involving over 5,000 people from 17 different countries. The mission is comprised of two parts: the Cassini spacecraft and the Huygens probe. The Cassini spacecraft was assembled by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). Cassini was built to orbit and study the planet Saturn. The Huygens probe was assembled by the European Space Agency (ESA) to explore the atmosphere and surface of Saturn's largest known moon, Titan.

The Cassini spacecraft and Huygens probe were launched at 4:43 a.m. EDT, on October 15, 1997, by a Titan IVB/Centaur rocket. Cassini-Huygens entered Saturn's orbit in July of 2004. At that time, Cassini began its 4-year mission of collecting data about Saturn, its rings, and its 30 known moons. On December 24, 2004 (US Eastern Time) Cassini deployed the Huygens probe. The probe descended into the depths of Titan's atmosphere on January 14, 2005, where it was expected to conduct a 2 to 3 hour long mission. The atmosphere entry phase of the mission lasted 147 minutes. The probe continued operations on the surface of Titan and returned data to the Cassini Orbiter for an additional 71 minutes at which time the orbiter moved over the horizon and lost contact with the probe. Other reports indicate that the probe lasted at least 3 hours on the ground.

Among the many instruments aboard the Huygens probe is the GCMS, which was developed by NASA Goddard Space Flight Center's Atmospheric Experiments Laboratory. The GCMS will be used to study the chemical composition, origin, and evolution of Titan's atmosphere.