Technological improvements, including an advanced thermal protection system and innovative solar arrays, have helped to get this mission off the drawing board.
spacecraft
Posted inEditors' Vox
Cassini’s Legacy in Print
With over 750 papers published in AGU journals based on Cassini-Huygens mission data, three editors select some of the most noteworthy.
Posted inNews
Cassini Plunges into Saturn, Ends a 20-Year Mission
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory streamed the spacecraft’s final moments live, allowing the public to listen to the mission’s end.
Posted inNews
A Wealth of Science to Come During Cassini’s Final Orbits
NASA’s spacecraft will continue to unlock Saturn’s mysteries up until the moment it burns up in Saturn’s atmosphere.
Posted inFeatures
Saturn Unveiled: Ten Notable Findings from Cassini-Huygens
The soon-to-end NASA mission to Saturn changed the way we think of habitability beyond Earth, opened our eyes to dynamics in the gas giant’s atmosphere, and more.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Curiosity Spies Shifting Sands on Mars
Images from the rover’s pioneering encounter with sand dunes on Mars constrain wind speeds required to move sand in the thin Martian atmosphere.
Posted inScience Updates
Instrument Development Enables Planetary Exploration
Third International Workshop on Instrumentation for Planetary Missions; Pasadena, California, 24–27 October 2016
Posted inEditors' Vox
Close Encounter with Jupiter
First results from the Juno mission shed new light on Jupiter’s atmosphere, gravity, magnetic field, aurora, history, and more.
Posted inEditors' Vox
Insights into the Habitability of Mars
NASA’s Curiosity rover explored the Kimberley region of Mars to search for signs that the planet was once habitable.
Posted inResearch Spotlights
Spacecraft Returns Its First Data on Martian Solar Irradiance
Scientists demonstrate the capabilities and limitations of the mathematical model used to calculate solar irradiance using measurements from NASA’s Mars Atmosphere and Volatile Evolution (MAVEN).