On June 30, 2004, the Cassini spacecraft entered orbit around
Saturn to begin the first in-depth, up-close study of the ringed
planet and its domain. As expected, the Saturn System has
provided an incredible wealth of opportunities for exploration
and discovery. With its initial four-year tour of the Saturn
system complete as well as an initial two-year extended mission
called the Cassini Equinox Mission, the spacecraft is conducting
a second extended mission called the Cassini Solstice Mission.
"We're looking at a string of remarkable discoveries -- about
Saturn's magnificent rings, its amazing moons, its dynamic
magnetosphere and about Titan's surface and atmosphere," says
Dr. Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist. "Some of the
mission highlights so far include discovering that Titan has
Earth-like processes and that the small moon Enceladus has a
hot-spot at its southern pole, jets on the surface that spew out
ice crystals and evidence of liquid water beneath its surface."
Cassini's observations of Satu