With the Cassini spacecraft, built by NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, safely in orbit around Saturn, science takes center stage, beginning with the dramatic descent of the European Space Agency’s Huygens probe to the surface of Saturn’s shrouded moon Titan.
For some scientists, Titan has been a higher priority for exploration than even Saturn itself. That’s because Titan may resemble what Earth was like billions of years ago. There, Huygens and Cassini will find lakes and seas of liquid methane and signs of volcanos gushing out icy water from an ocean hidden beneath Titan’s icy shell. And whenever water is mentioned, it’s not long before the question is raised: “Is this a place that could possibly support life?” The same question will be asked about Saturn’s moon Enceladus, where geysers were found to be spewing water ice particles out into space. These are but two of the unexpected discoveries made by this international mission that won over the hearts of millions worldwide while fundamentally altering the way we view our solar system.
Chronicling the story of NASA’s Cassini mission, this is the latest in a series of documentaries, “JPL and the Space Age.” These films use rare archival footage and interviews with pioneering engineers and scientists from the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in retelling of many of humanity’s first steps into the cosmos. Credit: NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory
JPL and the Space Age Video Series
- Episode 1: The American Rocketeer
- Episode 2: Explorer 1
- Episode 3: Destination Moon
- Episode 4: The Changing Face of Mars
- Episode 5: The Stuff of Dreams
- Episode 6: The Footsteps of Voyager
- Episode 7: To the Rescue
- Episode 8: The Pathfinders
- Episode 9: The Breaking Point
- Episode 10: Saving Galileo
- Episode 11: Mission to Mars
- Episode 12: Landing on Mars
- Episode 13: Triumph at Saturn – Part I
- Episode 14: Triumph at Saturn – Part II