Two free public programs in Pasadena next week will offer a
preview of the first mission to orbit Saturn.
Robert Mitchell, NASA’s program manager for the
international Cassini-Huygens mission, will show pictures
and describe the adventure on Thursday evening, March 20, at
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and on Friday evening,
March 21, at Pasadena City College.
Cassini-Huygens is running the final leg of its long journey to
reach Saturn on July 1, 2004. It passed Jupiter two years ago
and has also swung near Venus and Earth since its launch in
1997. The main Cassini spacecraft will examine Saturn’s windy
atmosphere, dramatic rings, diverse moons and wrap-around
magnetic environment while orbiting the planet for four years.
Early in the orbital tour, it will release a smaller probe,
Huygens, to parachute through the atmosphere of Titan,
Saturn’s largest moon. Huygens will take pictures and
in-place measurements of Titan’s dense, nitrogen-rich
atmosphere, which bears similarities to the primordial
atmosphere of Earth.
Mitchell will also discuss the human efforts making the mission
possible. Approximately 500 people at JPL and partner organizations
are currently working on it. Cassini-Huygens is a cooperative
endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space
Agency.
Mitchell has managed Cassini since 1998 and managed NASA’s Galileo
mission to Jupiter prior to that. He joined JPL in 1965. He has
worked on spacecraft trajectory design, mission design, and
navigation for Mariner and Viking missions to Mars, and for
Galileo.
Both lectures will begin at 7 p.m. Seating is first-come,
first-served. The Thursday lecture will be in JPL’s von Karman
Auditorium. JPL is at 4800 Oak Grove Dr., off the Oak Grove Drive
exit of the 210 (Foothill) Freeway. The Friday lecture will be in
Pasadena City College’s Vosloh Forum, 1570 E. Colorado Blvd. For
more information, call (818) 354-0112. Thursday’s lecture will be
webcast live and available afterwards at
