ESA Science & Technology

Titan Flyby - 23 September 2006

Only 16 days after Titan-17, Cassini returns to Titan for its nineteenth targeted encounter. The closest approach to Titan occurs on Saturday, 23 September, at 18:59 UT at an altitude of 960 kilometres above the surface and at a speed of 5.8 kilometres per second. The latitude at closest approach is 71°, and the encounter occurs on orbit number 29.

Published: 22 September 2006

Titan Flyby - 7 September 2006

Nearly 47 days after Titan-16, Cassini returns to Titan for its eighteenth targeted encounter. The closest approach to Titan occurs on Saturday, 7 September, at 20:16 UT at an altitude of 1000 kilometers above the surface and at a speed of 6.0 kilometers per second. The latitude at closest approach is 23° N (near the equator), and the encounter occurs on orbit number 28.

Published: 7 September 2006

Huygens Scientific Archive Data Set Released

The unique data obtained by the six Huygens experiments during the probe's descent to Titan's surface are now publicly available through the ESA planetary Science Archive (PSA), as well as the NASA Planetary Data System (PDS).

Published: 2 August 2006

Search for Lakes on Titan

Results from two recent flybys of Titan, by the Cassini spacecraft, have added to the evidence suggesting that hydrocarbon lakes exist on its surface.

Published: 25 July 2006

Titan Flyby - 22 July 2006

Only 20 days after Titan-15, Cassini returns to Titan for its seventeenth targeted encounter, Titan-16. The closest approach to Titan occurs on Saturday, 22 July, at 00:25 UT at an altitude of 950 kilometres above the surface and at a speed of 5.8 kilometres per second. The latitude at closest approach is 85° (near polar) and the encounter occurs on orbit number 26.

Published: 19 July 2006

Titan Flyby - 2 July 2006

Forty three days after Titan-14, Cassini returns to Titan for its sixteenth targeted encounter (Titan-15). The closest approach to the moon occurs on Sunday, 2 July at 09:21 UT at an altitude of 1906 km above the surface and at a speed of 5.8 kilometres per second. The latitude at closest approach is -0.4° (near equatorial) and the encounter occurs on orbit number 25.

Published: 29 June 2006

Titan Flyby - May 2006

Only 21 days after Titan-13, Cassini returns to Titan for its fifteenth targeted encounter. The closest approach to Titan occurs on Saturday, 20 May at 12:18 UTC at an altitude of 1879 km above the surface and at a speed of 5.8 kilometres per second. The latitude at closest approach is 0.4° (near equatorial) and the encounter occurs on orbit number 24.

Published: 19 May 2006

Titan Flyby - April 2006

Forty-two days after T12, Cassini returns to Titan for the fourteenth targeted flyby of Titan on Sunday, 30 April 2006 at 20:58:15 UTC. Cassini's closest approach to Saturn's largest satellite is at an altitude of 1855 kilometres above the surface at a speed of 6.0 kilometres per second.

Published: 29 April 2006

Titan Flyby - March 2006

Only 19 days after Titan-11, Cassini returns to Titan for its thirteenth targeted encounter. The closest approach to Titan occurs on Sunday, 19 March, at 00:06 UT at an altitude of 1951 km above the surface and at a speed of 5.8 kilometres per second. The latitude at closest approach is 0° (equator) and the encounter occurs on orbit number 22.

Published: 17 March 2006

Titan Flyby - February 2006

Forty-three days after T10, Cassini returns to Titan for the twelfth targeted flyby of Titan on Monday, 27 February 2006 at 08:25:19 Ground UTC.Cassini's closest approach to Saturn's largest satellite is at an altitude of 1813 km above the surface at a speed of 6.0 kilometres per second.

Published: 27 February 2006

Titan Flyby - January 2006

Only 21 days after T9, Cassini returns to Titan for its eleventh targeted encounter: T10. The closest approach to Titan occurs on Sunday, 15 January, at 11:41 UT at an altitude of 2043 km above the surface and at a speed of 5.8 kilometres per second. The latitude at closest approach is 0°(equator) and the encounter occurs on orbit number 20.

Published: 14 January 2006

Titan Flyby - December 2005

After a nearly 2 month hiatus, Cassini returns to Titan for its ninth targeted encounter. The closest approach to Titan occurs on Monday, 26 December (DOY 360), at 18:59 UT at an altitude of 10 409 kilometres above the surface and at a speed of 5.6 kilometres per second. The latitude at closest approach is 0° (equator) and the encounter occurs on orbit number 19.

Published: 25 December 2005

Rhea Flyby - November 2005

November of 2005 includes the final flyby of an amazing string of close icy satellite encounters. As September included the closest-ever encounters with Tethys and Hyperion, October contained the single targeted encounter at Dione. November brings the only targeted encounter at Rhea.

Published: 20 November 2005

Cassini to View Huygens Landing Site

The Cassini spacecraft will make a flyby of Titan on 28 October. For the first time since the Huygens mission in January, Cassini will be able to take high resolution images of the landing site.

Published: 27 October 2005

Dione Flyby - October 2005

October of 2005 continues with the amazing string of close icy satellite encounters. As September included closest-ever encounters with Tethys and Hyperion, October contains the single targeted encounter with Dione. Dione is uniquely identified by its curious wispy terrain and was discovered in 1684 by Jean-Domnique Cassini.

Published: 10 October 2005

Hyperion Flyby - September 2005

The closest approach during the sole targeted flyby of Hyperion occurs on Monday, 26 September, at 02:25 UT at an altitude of 514 km above the surface and at a speed of 5.6 kilometres per second. Hyperion, roughly 1/3 the size of its round neighbour Tethys, is one of the smaller moons of Saturn and is shaped like a potato with the diameter of the long axis being 360 km and diameter of the short axis are around 250 km.

Published: 25 September 2005

Tethys Flyby - September 2005

The Tethys flyby is technically non-targeted (meaning there are no manoeuvres solely designed to control the flyby trajectory); however, through efforts recently made by the Cassini navigation team, this encounter was able to be lowered to allow for a close study of the icy moon.

Published: 23 September 2005

Seventh Close Titan Flyby

Titan-7 is the eighth targeted encounter of Saturn's largest moon. The flyby occurs on Wednesday 7 September at 08:12 UTC. The closest approach will be at an altitude of 1075 km above the surface at a speed of 5.9 km s-1. Titan has a diameter of 5150 km, so the spacecraft passes just a Titan radii. The phase on approach is approximately 50°, reaching 85° at closest approach, and is approximately 128° outbound. The lower phase angles are good for the Cassini cameras.

Published: 6 September 2005

Sixth Close Titan Flyby

Titan-6 is the sixth close flyby, and seventh targeted encounter of Saturn's largest moon. The flyby occurs on Monday 22 August at 08:54 UTC. The closest approach will be at an altitude of 3669 km above the surface at a speed of 5.9 kms-1. The latitude at closest approach is -59°.

Published: 16 August 2005

Recent Results from Huygens Data

Five months after its successful descent onto Titan, scientists analyzing data from the various instruments have begun to publish a wide range of results.

Published: 17 June 2005

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