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Monday February 8, 2010
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NASA has decided to extend the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft mission, which is currently exploring Saturn and its moons, through the year 2017. The agency's 2011 budget provides $60 million per year to continue studying the ringed planet.
"This is a mission that never stops providing us surprising scientific results and showing us eye popping new vistas," said Jim Green, director of NASA's planetary science division at NASA Headquarters in Washington, in a statement. "The historic traveler's stunning discoveries and images have revolutionized our knowledge of Saturn and its moons."
Cassini first launched in 1997, swung around Venus a couple of times in a nifty slingshot maneuver (called gravity assist) in order to gain speed, and finally arrived at Saturn in 2004. The mission was originally scheduled to end in 2008, before being extended once through 2010 and now again through 2017.
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