The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft's mission at Saturn has been extended by two years, NASA announced today, allowing the plucky probe to continue scouting the planet and its exotic medley of moons.The extended mission will include a number of additional close looks at Saturn's moons Titan and Enceladus - both of which are thought to have liquid oceans beneath their surfaces - including one pass planned to come within 15 miles of the crust of Enceladus.
Launched in October 1997, the nuclear-powered Cassini spacecraft spent seven years journeying to Saturn and has orbited the ringed planet since June 2004. The mission's end was originally set for July 2008.
Scientists think Titan and Enceladus may help construct a picture of what Earth was like before life appeared here, as both moons have been shown to harbor precursors of life. ...There are a whole bunch of those images available at the JPL link above.
Aside from a few instrument glitches, mission managers said the probe is in good shape. ...
If mission managers decide to extend Cassini's journey yet again in 2010, the craft should have enough propellant to handle a third mission phase.
Since arriving at Saturn, Cassini has beamed back nearly 140,000 images during 62 revolutions around the planet and more than 50 flybys of its moons.
Footnote: You might have heard the news that JPL was going to have to shut down one of the Mars rovers in light of a $4 million, or 40%, budget cut imposed on the program by NASA. However, NASA rescinded the cut when it became obvious that shutting down a rover, which was never an option, was the only way to achieve a reduction of that magnitude. Both rovers are aging, getting creaky, and having software problems and will have to be shut down at some point, but when you've been going 16 times longer than was expected and can still be productive, well, you can be creaky and gripey, too.
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