THE CASSINI/HUYGENS MISSION TO SATURN AND TITAN AND ITS RELEVANCE TO EXO/ASTROBIOLOGY

摘要

The Cassini/Huygens spacecraft was launched in October, 1997. Since that time it has been on an interplanetary trajectory toward Saturn. The spacecraft comprises a Saturn orbiter and a Titan entry probe. It arrives at Saturn and goes into orbit about the planet on July 1, 2004. Cassini will perform 75 orbits around Saturn during the nominal 4-year mission. Among them, 44 include close flybys of Titan. Huygens is an entry probe designed to descend by parachute through the atmosphere, down to the surface, of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The Probe mission is now planned for the third orbit, on 14 January 2005, after two flybys of Titan (in October and December 2004). Huygens will be released about 3 weeks before it reaches Titan. This paper provides an overview of the mission with emphasis on Titan's exploration and the relevance of Titan and this mission to exo/astrobiology. Part of this work was carried out at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, California Institute of Technology, under contract to NASA.