Fly with Cassie to the planet Saturn

by William Atkins

Wednesday, 06 February 2008

If you like to travel in space to Saturn, log on to a new 3D NASA website called Cassie (Cassini at Saturn-Interactive Explorer) and travel virtually to the ringed planet.

According to the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) press release (January 31, 2008), a new interactive three-dimensional (3D) viewer allows users to travel to Saturn and see how the spacecraft Cassini, a part of the Cassini-Huygens mission, views the planet.

For your Internet-based trip to Saturn, go to either:

Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) “Cassini at Saturn Interactive Explorer (CASSIE)” or National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) “Cassini at Saturn Interactive:Explorer”.

According to the JPL press release (“Journey to Saturn From Your Computer”), “The Cassini at Saturn Interactive Explorer makes the real Cassini mission data fully available in three colorful, easy-to-use expeditions. The "Where is Cassini Now?" expedition shows exactly where the Cassini spacecraft is and what it is doing each moment over the current 24-hour period. Viewers can see the spacecraft move in its orbit and maneuver according to instructions from mission scientists and navigators at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.”

Additional information on the Cassini mission is available at http://www.nasa.gov/cassini and http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a joint project of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Italian Space Agency (ISA). JPL is a part of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California. It manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C.

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