Jp. Lebreton et Dl. Matson, AN OVERVIEW OF THE CASSINI MISSION, Nuovo cimento della Societa italiana di fisica. C, Geophysics and space physics, 15(6), 1992, pp. 1137-1147
Cassini is a planetary mission designed to carry out a detailed explor
ation of the Saturnian system. The Cassini spacecraft is composed of a
NASA-provided Saturn Orbiter and an ESA-supplied Titan atmospheric pr
obe. Scheduled for launch in October 1997, Cassini will take about 7 y
ears to reach Saturn after a journey which includes gravity assists fr
om Venus, Earth and Jupiter. In late 2004, a few weeks after the inser
tion of the Cassini spacecraft in orbit around Saturn, the Huygens pro
be will be dropped into the atmosphere of Titan. Following the probe m
ission, the Saturn Orbiter will carry out a 4 year tour within the Sat
urn system for detailed observations of the Planet Saturn, Titan, many
of the icy satellites, the rings and the magnetosphere.