The launch of the Cassini spacecraft from Cape Canaveral Air Station, FL, later this month promises to be spectacular. Boosted by a Titan IV rocket and Centaur upper stage , America s largest and most powerful expendable launch vehicle, the spacecraft will lift off amidst billowing clouds of smoke and vapor to one of the most ambitious and far-reaching planetary explorations ever mounted. The Centaur upper stage is hoisted at Launch Pad 40 at Cape Canaveral Air Station for mating with the Titan IV rocket that will propel the Cassini spacecraft to Saturn. Weighing in at 12,500 pounds, Cassini is the heaviest and most complex spacecraft ever to be launched on an interplanetary mission. The spacecraft s size and complexity posed numerous challenges for the NASA Lewis team , whose role in the endeavor over the past eight years has included procuring the launch service from the Air Force , participating with the Air Force in overseeing the design, fabrication and test of the launch vehicle system, performing extensive independent verification and validation activities usually performed on the Titan program by subcontractors to LMA, working with Lockheed Martin to design and develop mission-unique hardware and software, performing and publishing analyses to support the nuclear safety launch approval process, and by developing launch operations activities unique to the Cassini mission.
Missions carrying nuclear material undergo extensive safety reviews.
From an engineering standpoint launching RTGs made our integration role quite difficult. In order to meet the requirements of the mission, it was necessary to develop new hardware and software. Packed with 1.9 million pounds of propellant, the rocket generates 3.2 million pounds of thrust and is capable of launching payloads up to 13,500 pounds to geosynchronous orbit. But that s still not enough power to send Cassini on a direct path to Saturn. Cassini is lifted for placement onto a transporter that will move it to the launch pad.