Want a peek at Saturn as seen from space? A new interactive 3-D viewer that uses a game engine and allows users to travel to Saturn and see it the way the Cassini spacecraft sees it is now online at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/CASSIE and http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/cassie.html .
The Cassini at Saturn Interactive Explorer makes the real Cassini mission data fully available in three colorful, easy-to-use expeditions.
The “Where is Cassini Now?” expedition shows exactly where the Cassini spacecraft is and what it is doing each moment over the current 24-hour period. Viewers can see the spacecraft move in its orbit and maneuver according to instructions from mission scientists and navigators at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
With the “Mission Overview” expedition, look back in time as Cassini orbited the Saturn system over the past 3.5 years, and fast-forward into the future to see where it is headed. Users can control two virtual cameras to see Cassini fly by Saturn and its moons.
The “Saturn’s Moons” expedition gives an in-depth peek at seven of Saturn’s moons, providing useful facts and interactive surface views of each one.
More information on the Cassini mission is available at http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at JPL.
