The Cassini spacecraft is scheduled to make a flyby of Titan, the largest and most intriguing of Saturn's moons on June 18 in an attempt to examine its surface and atmosphere.
Launched in 1997, the Cassini spacecraft reached Saturn's orbit in 2004 after flybys of Earth, Jupiter and Venus. It was deployed to study the planet Saturn, its moons, and the structure and behavior of the planet's rings. In particular, Cassini will record data relating to Titan's nitrogen rich atmosphere at various altitudes.
The planned flyby will position Cassini as near as 2,274 miles above Saturn's surace at an approximate speed of 13,000 miles per hour (5.6 kilometers per second). This is a complicated maneuver, but scientists believe Cassini is capable of performing its mission successfully.
"We held our breath as Cassini turned to beam its radio signals at the lakes," said Essam Marouf, a member of the Cassini radio science team of San Jose State University in California, in a NASA news release. "We knew we were getting good quality data when we saw clear echoes from Titan's surface. It was thrilling."
