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Chronicling a bold voyage of discovery—the Cassini/Huygens mission to
Saturn and its enigmatic moon Titan—"Voyage to the Mystery Moon" delivers
striking images of these fascinating planetary bodies nearly a billion miles
from Earth. Saturn's broad rings hold myriad mysteries, and Titan, whose soupy
atmosphere is similar to the one that enshrouded our planet billions of years
ago, may hold clues to the origins of life. In hopes of answering some
long-standing astrophysical questions, teams from NASA and the European Space
Agency gamble years of effort to both ease the Cassini spacecraft into a
workable orbit around Saturn and land the Huygens probe on Titan's
never-before-seen surface.
A story of curiosity and imagination, this program highlights how many big
questions remain unanswered about our own solar system and just how much we
have yet to explore. Saturn, with its unique and beautifully constructed rings
and diverse set of moons, holds mysteries that have tantalized researchers ever
since the Voyager probes sent back breathtaking pictures of this wondrous
planet.
We do know that the moon Titan is one of only four bodies in the solar system
to have a substantial atmosphere, and the only one whose present-day chemical composition
resembles that of the primitive Earth four billion years ago. This environment,
dominated by nitrogen and methane, appears to have all the ingredients needed
to produce complex molecules such as amino acids, one of the key building
blocks of life. For biologists, chemists, and astronomers alike, it is a giant
laboratory promising an inside view of how life began on our own planet. (Hear
sounds from Titan.)
"Voyage to the Mystery Moon" follows the story of NASA and the European Space
Agency's Cassini-Huygens mission, designed for multiple flybys past Saturn and
Titan as well as an actual landing on the mysterious orange moon. It is an
audacious undertaking, engaging scientists in the U.S. and Europe since 1990.
These experts share with NOVA the inspiration, creativity, ambition, and
near-obsessive dedication required of such a long-term venture. They have,
after all, put all their eggs in one spaceship.
The design, construction, testing, and launch of Cassini-Huygens offers an inside
look at the intricacies of space engineering and science. Cassini is built to
orbit Saturn, using its 12 instruments and sophisticated cameras to capture
images from orbit. Meanwhile, on Titan, the Huygens probe serves as a
stationary explorer, outfitted with six instruments designed to see the surface
of the moon and test the composition of its soil and atmosphere. It all
demands unnerving precision from mission planners: when a post-launch
communication trial reveals a small but devastating glitch, it takes more than
two years to devise and implement the ingenious solution.
Success requires that the Cassini-Huygens craft complete mind-boggling feats.
It must travel over two billion miles across space, utilizing the gravity of
several planets to slingshot its way to Saturn. There is no room for error as
the unique planetary alignment that makes this possible will not be seen again
for 600 years. Cassini has to then pass through Saturn's rings undamaged before
launching the Huygens probe towards Titan's surface. Everything must work
perfectly—the explosive bolts, the heat shield, each one of the three
parachutes that were packed almost eight years before, prior to the launch on
Earth.
Dramatic CGI illustrates the spacecrafts' journey and brings to life their
extraordinary discoveries about the surface and atmosphere of Titan—a
place where methane rain falls from orange skies and volcanoes erupt with
ice-cold lava. Along the odyssey, Cassini's cameras provide haunting images of
Jupiter, our solar system's largest planet, and Phoebe, Saturn's deeply
cratered outermost moon.
Finally, in 2005, seven years after its launch, the Cassini satellite reaches
its destination and jumps into orbit. In addition to its investigation of
Titan, Cassini's prime objective is to help answer the most basic questions
about Saturn's rings: what are they made of and how were they formed (see
Anatomy of the Rings)?
With Cassini in position, the Huygens space probe prepares to touch down. As
the time arrives, NOVA is at mission control. It is an excruciating wait for
contact, and the tension is palpable as screens remain blank long past the
expected communication point. For many of these scientists, this mission is the
culmination of their careers. When at last the numbers appear, a cheer goes up
from the crowd. Data pour in along with the first surprising pictures from
Titan's surface.
Even more surprising (because totally unexpected) are images sent back of
Enceladus, a tiny Saturnian moon that appears to have liquid water gushing out
of its south pole. Where there's water, there could be life, and Enceladus
("en-CELL-a-duss") may have suddenly usurped Jupiter's moon Europa as the next
place to check for life beyond Earth. (Hear Carolyn Porco, head of the
Cassini imaging team, talk about the latest from Enceladus.)
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An artist's depiction of the Huygens
probe, just released from the Cassini spacecraft, on its descent towards Titan,
Saturn's singular moon.
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