Cassini Equinox Mission
The Cassini Equinox Mission is a two-year mission extension which began on 1 July 2008. This follows the completion of the four-year nominal mission, or the Prime Mission, which ran from 1 July 2004 to 30 June 2008.
During the Equinox Mission, the Cassini spacecraft continues its tour of the Saturnian system and performs 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 |
6 April |
503 |
|
|
| 130 |
Enceladus |
27 April |
99 |
|
|
| 131 |
Enceladus |
18 May |
198 |
|
|
| 131 |
Titan |
19 May |
1400 |
|
|
| 132 |
Titan |
4 June |
2044 |
|
|
| 133 |
Titan |
20 June |
955 |
|
|
* The encounter date refers to the date of closest approach in UTC
____________________________________ Last Update: 29 Jan 2010
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