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: 18 Oct 2011