Mission to Saturn
Subtitle: Cassini and the Huygens Probe (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration)
Edition: 1 edition
Publisher: Springer
Published: October 28, 2002
Language: eng
Format: Paperback
Number of pages: 290
ISBN-13: 9781852336561
Subjects: Planets & asteroids; Space travel & exploration; Technology & Industrial Arts; Planets; Science; Science/Mathematics; Saturn (Planet); Aeronautics & Astronautics; Astronomy - General; Astrophysics & Space Science; Science / Astronomy; astronomy; moon; space travel; Cosmology; Equipment and supplies; Exploration; Saturn probes
First sentence: From his home on the island of Rhodes in the Aegean, Hipparchus, the greatest of the ancient Greek astronomers, drew up a catalogue of the positions and motions of the objects in the sky.
Description: "In Mission to Saturn, David Harland reviews the exploration of Saturn, from the discoveries of the early astronomers through telescopes to the robotic probes and fly-bys of the late 1970s and early 1980s. He then goes on to place our present knowledge in the context of the Cassini-Huygens mission, which is due to enter orbit around Saturn in 2004. This joint US/European venture will make a four-year orbital tour of the Saturnian system, with one highlight being the descent of the Huygens Probe into the atmosphere of Titan, the largest of the system's satellites which - possibly - is laced with the complex molecules which, on Earth, were the precursors to life." "The author explains how the mission was planned, how it will operate and how its observations will revolutionise our knowledge and understanding of the Saturnian system."--BOOK JACKET.