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    Cassini Equinox Mission

    The Cassini Equinox Mission was a two-year mission extension which ran from July 2008 until October 2010. This followed the completion of the four-year nominal mission, which ran from July 2004 to June 2008. The current mission extension, known as the Cassini Solstice Mission, will run until the Saturnian Summer Solstice, when the Sun will reach its highest elevation on the northern hemisphere; this point will be reached in May 2017.

    During the Equinox Mission, the Cassini spacecraft continued its tour of the Saturnian system and performed several close targeted fly-bys as well as many distant fly-bys of Saturn's moons. The targeted encounters are listed below and include 26 Titan fly-bys, 7 Enceladus fly-bys, and one fly-by each of the icy moons Dione, Rhea and Helene.

    Details of the completed four-year nominal tour are available at the dedicated Prime Mission page linked from the right-hand side menu.

    Saturn Moon Encounters

    Orbit Moon Encounter Date* Altitude
    (km)
    Completed Info
    2008
    78 Titan 31 July 1613  Details 
    80 Enceladus 11 August 54  Details 
    88 Enceladus 9 October 25  Details 
    91 Enceladus 31 October 197  Details 
    91 Titan 3 November 1100  Details 
    93 Titan 19 November 1023  Details 
    95 Titan 5 December 960  Details 
    97 Titan 21 December 970  Details 
    2009
    102 Titan 7 February 960  Details 
    106 Titan 27 March 960  Details 
    108 Titan 3 April 4150  Details 
    109 Titan 20 April 3600  Details 
    110 Titan 5 May 3244  Details 
    111 Titan 21 May 965  Details 
    112 Titan 6 June 965  Details 
    113 Titan 22 June 955  Details 
    114 Titan 8 July 965
    115 Titan 24 July 955
    116 Titan 9 August 970
    117 Titan 25 August 970
    119 Titan 12 October 1300
    120 Enceladus 2 November 103
    121 Enceladus 20 November 1603
    122 Titan 11 December 4850
    123 Titan 28 December 955
    2010
    124 Titan 12 January 1073
    125 Titan 28 January 7490
    127 Rhea 2 March 101
    127 Helene 3 March 1823
    129 Titan 5 April 7462
    129 Dione 7 April 503
    130 Enceladus 27 April 99
    131 Enceladus 18 May 198
    131 Titan 19 May 1400
    132 Titan 4 June 2044
    133 Titan 21 June 880

    * The encounter date refers to the date of closest approach in UTC


    Last Update: 18 Oct 2011

    • Shortcut URL
    • http://sci.esa.int/jump.cfm?oid=43181
    • Related Links
    • NASA Cassini website
    • See also
    • Cassini Tour - Prime Mission

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