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Missions

Saturn has been visited by four robotic spacecraft. In September 1979, NASA's Pioneer 11 provided the first close view. In 1980 and 1981, NASA's twin spacecraft Voyager 1 and Voyager 2 made flybys nine months apart. (NASA)

Each flyby provided new information about Saturn, but it wasn't until the multinational Cassini mission entered orbit in 2004 that our knowledge of the ringed giant planet began to take shape. Cassini orbited Saturn for 13 years before being converted into an atmospheric probe by human engineers on Earth in time for its stunning final dive into the planet in September 2017. The Huygens Probe, which landed on Saturn's moon Titan in 2005, was also carried by Cassini.

For millennia, astronomers have used telescopes to study Saturn from Earth. From its perch in Earth orbit, the Hubble Space Telescope continues to unearth new information. (NASA)

Past Missions

Cassini

The Cassini mission was the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn. Cassini left in 1997 and arrived at Saturn in 2004. This mission deployed a probe into Titan to gather more data. Cassini ended with a planned plunge into Saturn's atmosphere.

Cassini launched from Earth in 1997. Its main goal was to visit Saturn, but on its way, Cassini orbited Venus, flew by Earth, studied the asteroid belt, and explored Jupiter. Finally, 177 million miles before it reached Saturn, Cassini took a picture of the planet. Two years after the camera test, Cassini arrived in Saturn's orbit still holding the Huygen's probe that was meant to be dropped into Saturn's moon "Titan." Six months later Cassini dropped the probe successfully onto Titan which revealed the Earth-like meteorology and geology.

Cassini's journey

Cassini's findings

In March of 2006, Cassini found liquid water on Saturn's moon "Enceladus" (as seen on the left). Four months later, during a flyby of Titan, Cassini found several lakes. Finally, in late 2006, Cassini observed unknown rings that had never been seen before. For the next four years, Cassini continued to gather information about Saturn's moons and ring system. In 2010, when the mission was projected to be over, NASA extended the mission to continue to observe Saturn and its moons for seven more years. Later in 2010, NASA started "The Cassini Solstice Mission" which enabled scientists to observe the seasons on Saturn. In 2014, scientists came to the conclusion that Titan is like an early Earth in a deep freeze because of their similarities. As Cassini was making its final orbit around Saturn, scientists decided to get a closer look at Saturn than they ever had before. Finally, Cassini dove into Saturn where it got crushed by the immense pressure.

Timeline

~700 BCE: The Assyrians are credited with creating the first written records about Saturn. They called the ringed planet "Star of Ninib" because it sparkled in the night.

~400 BCE: In honor of Kronos, the god of agriculture, ancient Greek astronomers named what they believe is a wandering star. Saturn, the Roman deity of agriculture, was later given the name.

July 1610: Through a telescope, Galileo Galilei notices Saturn's rings, but misidentifies them as a "triple planet."

1655: Saturn's rings and its biggest moon, Titan, are discovered by Christiaan Huygens.

1675: Jean-Dominique Cassini, an Italian-born astronomer, detects a "split" between the A and B rings.

Sept. 1, 1979: The Pioneer 11 spacecraft is the first to reach Saturn. The F ring of Saturn and a new moon are among the many discoveries made by Pioneer 11.

1980 and 1981: Voyager 1's flyby of Saturn in 1980 revealed the ring system's complicated structure, which is made up of thousands of ringlets. In 1981, Voyager 2 flew even closer to Saturn, providing more detailed photos and documenting the thinness of parts of the rings.

July 1, 2004: Cassini becomes the first spacecraft to circle Saturn, kicking off a decade-long mission that has revealed numerous secrets and surprises about Saturn and its system of rings and moons.

Jan. 14, 2005: The Huygens mission of the European Space Agency is the first spacecraft to land softly on the surface of another planet's moon, Saturn's gigantic moon Titan. The probe delivers the first-and-only direct photographs of Titan's surface, which is blanketed by heavy clouds.

Sept. 17, 2006: A new ring is discovered by scientists. The orbits of Saturn's moons Janus and Epimetheus intersect with the ring. The new ring was discovered during a solar occultation that illuminated the planet.

2009: The presence of a massive, low-density ring connected with Saturn's far moon Phoebe has been discovered by NASA's Spitzer Space Telescope.

Sep. 15, 2017: Cassini's 13-year orbital mission comes to a conclusion with a stunning, planned descent into Saturn's atmosphere, which sends science data back to the last second. Cassini's final five orbits allow scientists to take the first direct samples of Saturn's atmosphere.

(NASA)

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