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About the Mission

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About the Instruments

Cassini-Huygens

After a seven-year voyage that included four gravity-assist maneuvers, Cassini entered Saturn's orbit in July of 2004. It then began a four-year mission that included more than 70 orbits around the ringed planet and its moons. Cassini completed its initial four-year mission to explore the Saturn System in June 2008.
The mission's extension, through September 2010, was named for the Saturnian equinox, which occured in August 2009 when the sun shone directly on the equator and then began to illuminate the northern hemisphere and the rings' northern face. Cassini observed seasonal changes brought by the changing sun angle on Saturn, the rings and moons, which were illuminated from the south during the mission's first four years.
Turning a midsummer night's dream into reality, on September 28, 2010, NASA's Cassini spacecraft begins its new mission extension, the Cassini Solstice Mission. The mission extension will take Cassini a few months past Saturn's northern summer solstice (or midsummer) through September 2017. It will enable scientists to study seasonal changes and other long-term weather changes on Saturn and its moons.

Cassini Orbiter Instruments
CAPS - Cassini Plasma Spectrometer

CDA - Cosmic Dust Analyzer

CIRS - Composite Infrared Spectrometer

INMS - Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer

ISS - Imaging Science Subsystem

MAG - Magnetometer

MIMI - Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument

RADAR - a Radar instrument

RPWS - Radio and Plasme Wave Spectrometer

RSS - Radio Science Subsystem

UVIS - Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph

VIMS - Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer

SPICE - Navigation and Pointing information

The Imaging Node archives ISS, VIMS and RADAR science data. Visit the Atmospheres Node, lead archiving node for Cassini, for information about archive responsibilities for other instruments.
The Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) consists of two fixed focal length telescopes, a wide-angle camera (WAC) and a narrow-angle camera (NAC). ISS data sets are produced by the Cassini Imaging Team at Space Science Institute, Boulder.
The Radar instrument consists of a synthetic aperture radar imager (SAR), an altimeter, and a radiometer. Radar data sets a produced by the Radar Team at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory.
The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer includes a pair of imaging grating spectrometers designed to measure reflected and emitted radiation. The VIMS data sets are produced by the VIMS Team at the University of Arizona, Tucson.

Cassini Final Mission Report
Volume 1

Mission Documents
Archive Plan
Mission Description
Spacecraft Description