The Cassini mission has provided numerous insights into Saturn and its moons over its 15+ year exploration of the Saturn system. Key findings include that Titan has lakes of methane and a subsurface ocean, Enceladus likely hosts conditions suitable for microbial life beneath its surface, and Saturn itself experiences massive seasonal storms. The extended Cassini Solstice mission through 2017 will allow scientists to study an entire seasonal cycle on Saturn and conduct close flybys of moons like Titan and Enceladus to learn more about their potential for habitability.

1. The Cassini Missions
Joe Kraus
March 27, 2016

2. Some videos to get us started
• Cassini Saturn Arrival
• https://youtu.be/s8sNsmkXb8M
• Cassini: 15 Years of Exploration
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7YX1JzmEojs

3. Some things we’ve learned
• http://www.stfc.ac.uk/news-events-and-publications/features/10-
things-we-ve-learned-from-cassini-huygens/
• Lots of moons. 62 or more.
• Enceladus is one of the places in the solar system that is most likely to
be home to microbial life. It has over 100 geysers, too.
• Titan has an internal, liquid water-ammonia ocean.
• It also has lakes of methane.
• Saturn’s F ring is a “a bustling zoo of objects from a half mile in size to
moons like Prometheus a hundred miles in size”, says Professor
Murray

11. Some things we’ve learned
• Titan’s surface is covered in ‘pebbles’, which may be made of water
ice. The Huygens probe was not only the first spacecraft to land on
Titan, but the first to land in the outer solar system.
• Saturn’s poles are home to giant, swirling storm systems.
• There’s plastic in Titan’s atmosphere – propylene
• Dione has a very thin atmosphere
• Enormous planet-engulfing thunderstorm systems sometimes erupt

15. Some things we’ve learned
• Scientists have been monitoring these slow seasonal changes over the
past decade to learn more about the forces shaping the climate and
environment

16. Even more
• http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/topscience2014/
• Ocean Detected Inside Enceladus
• Hyperion's Electrostatically Charged Surface
• Mimas Hides Frozen Core or Ocean
• Titan’s Salty Sea

17. Yea, another video
• Cassini: Coming Attractions at Saturn
• https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fAQM9rfZq7w

18. Cassini Solstice Mission
• http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/introduction/
• http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/saturntourdates/
• The mission’s extension, which goes through September 2017, is
named for the Saturnian summer solstice occurring in May 2017.
Since Cassini arrived at Saturn just after the planet's northern winter
solstice, the extension will allow for the first study of a complete
seasonal period.
• Most important targets, Moons Titan and Enceladus, & other icy
moons.
• Cassini will also make closer studies of the planet and its rings.

19. Want to learn more about the spacecraft?
• https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cassini%E2%80%93Huygens#Instrumen
ts

20. That’s it, that’s all