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May 24, 2021

Episode 13 - Cassini-Huygens mission to Saturn (Put a Ring on It)

1 hour 49 minutes

On our first mission-focused episode, we tackle the joint NASA/ESA Cassini-Huygens mission that studied the Saturn system from 2004 to 2017. Over those 13 years (about one half of a Saturn year), the Cassini orbiter collected a vast dataset for studying Saturn’s iconic rings, enigmatic icy moons, and the gas giant itself, while the Huygens lander made a brief visit to the surface of the hazy moon Titan. We discuss the basics of the Saturn system, the Cassini-Huygens mission, and its major findings, but first — a brief chat on China’s successful landing of a rover on Mars.

00:32 - China is on Mars!

13:00 - Basics of the Saturnian system and pre-Cassini history,

34:22 - Cassini mission architecture and findings.

Cassini links:

Overview of the Cassini-Huygens mission (Matson et al., 2002),

Overview of Huygens landing on Titan (Owen, 2005),

Saturn’s icy moons before and after Cassini (Dougherty & Spilker, 2018),

Overview of Cassini-Huygens results (Spilker, 2019), More detailed review of Saturn findings (Ingersoll, 2020).

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