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Cassini Equinox Mission

Cassini Equinox Mission

The Cassini Equinox Mission was a two-year mission extension which ran from July 2008 until October 2010. This followed the completion of the four-year nominal mission, which ran from July 2004 to June 2008. The current mission extension, known as the Cassini Solstice Mission, will run until the Saturnian Summer Solstice, when the Sun will reach its highest elevation on the northern hemisphere; this point will be reached in May 2017.

During the Equinox Mission, the Cassini spacecraft continued its tour of the Saturnian system and performed several close targeted fly-bys as well as many distant fly-bys of Saturn's moons. The targeted encounters are listed below and include 26 Titan fly-bys, 7 Enceladus fly-bys, and one fly-by each of the icy moons Dione, Rhea and Helene.

Details of the completed four-year nominal tour are available at the dedicated Prime Mission page linked from the right-hand side menu.

Saturn Moon Encounters

Orbit Moon Encounter Date* Altitude
(km)
Completed Info
2008
78 Titan 31 July 1613  Details 
80 Enceladus 11 August 54  Details 
88 Enceladus 9 October 25  Details 
91 Enceladus 31 October 197  Details 
91 Titan 3 November 1100  Details 
93 Titan 19 November 1023  Details 
95 Titan 5 December 960  Details 
97 Titan 21 December 970  Details 
2009
102 Titan 7 February 960  Details 
106 Titan 27 March 960  Details 
108 Titan 3 April 4150  Details 
109 Titan 20 April 3600  Details 
110 Titan 5 May 3244  Details 
111 Titan 21 May 965  Details 
112 Titan 6 June 965  Details 
113 Titan 22 June 955  Details 
114 Titan 8 July 965
115 Titan 24 July 955
116 Titan 9 August 970
117 Titan 25 August 970
119 Titan 12 October 1300
120 Enceladus 2 November 103
121 Enceladus 20 November 1603
122 Titan 11 December 4850
123 Titan 28 December 955
2010
124 Titan 12 January 1073
125 Titan 28 January 7490
127 Rhea 2 March 101
127 Helene 3 March 1823
129 Titan 5 April 7462
129 Dione 7 April 503
130 Enceladus 27 April 99
131 Enceladus 18 May 198
131 Titan 19 May 1400
132 Titan 4 June 2044
133 Titan 21 June 880

* The encounter date refers to the date of closest approach in UTC

Last Update: 1 September 2019
19-Mar-2024 04:16 UT

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