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A Titan-ic Mission (October 29, 2004, One)

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Program Summary

What is Saturn known for? Its rings, of course. But did you know that Saturn has moons as well? 35 of them! One of those moons is so large that, if it had been born in another part of the solar system, it could qualify as a planet. That moon is the aptly named Titan, larger even than the planet Mercury. This past week NASA’s Cassini-Huygens probe sent back pictures of Titan that have space scientists tingling with excitement.

Launched in 1997 as a joint effort between NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency, the Cassini-Huygens probe reached Saturn in July of this year and will spend the next four studying the ringed planet and the bodies within its sphere of influence. In January 2005, the Huygens part of the probe, contributed by the European Space Agency, will detach itself from Cassini and parachute through Titan’s atmosphere and land on the surface, hopefully unscathed. Astronomers hope to use the images and information sent back by Huygens to answer questions about the giant moon’s chemical and geological composition.

Why bother with Titan? Are scientists looking for evidence of life as they are on Mars? No. At -290 degrees Fahrenheit, it’s way too cold for life as we define it to form. What is so fascinating about Titan is that it is the only moon in the solar system with its own atmosphere, and a very thick one at that. Researchers hope that studying Titan will lead to insights about Earth’s own evolution.

Guests

Linda Spilker, deputy project scientist for the Cassini mission at NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California

Related Links and Resources

NASA: Cassini-Huygens: Mission to Saturn and Titan
NASA: Cassini-Huygens News: Titan – A Flyby
NASA: Cassini-Huygens News: Press Releases and Significant Events

For Discussion:

• For whom is the Cassini-Huygens probe named? What were their contributions to astronomy?
• Why do we want to study Saturn?
• What is distinctive about Titan? What is the purpose of Huygens probe? Do astronomers expect to find life on Titan?
• What do scientists hope to learn about Earth from studying Titan?
• Do you think this mission is as important as the one to Mars?

Activities

A slow boat to Saturn. Get started on the probe’s 2.2 billion trip to Saturn at Cassini-Huygens: Unlocking Saturn's Secrets, where you can link to images, interviews, the latest events, and even sounds from the ringed planet. Be sure to visit every page on the extensive menu or you’ll miss something fascinating. You’ll get more details about the probe’s mission at its homepage, Cassini-Huygens: Mission to Saturn and Titan. From either page you can link to Journey to a Ringed World, a wonderful multimedia expedition that explores the rationale behind sending spacecraft to Saturn and its moons.

Sharing space. Visit the European Space Agency’s Cassini-Huygens site for a description of the Huygen probe’s predicted descent to Titan. You’ll find photographs, videos, animations, 3D models, and tons of facts and figures about Saturn and Titan. Students can read what their European counterparts are studying and enter an art contest at the High School education page.

Fasten your seat belts. For a truly eye-popping trip through space, visit NASA’s Solar System Exploration, a lively, well-written site with fantastic graphics, slide shows, multimedia, a kids’ section, educational resources, and intriguing information, of course. One of the most interesting and detailed explorations of the solar system is The Nine Planets site. Everything you ever wanted to know about them is at your fingertips, with facts, images, discussion questions, and links galore for the planets, moons, asteroids, comets, and much more. What really sets this site apart is that sound bites from Holst’s musical suite “The Planets” accompany each chapter.

Use the search box below to perform a Google search within any of the specifc sites or general domains mentioned in this Activities section.

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