This conference will take place in two parts. The great discoveries of the US-European mission Cassini-Huygens, which explored Saturn and its procession of satellites for 13 years (2004-2017), then preparations for the European mission juice, developing for the exploration of satellites of Jupiter and its satellites Galilean from 2030 – launch programmed in 2022-will be presented.
Cassini-Huygens’s great discoveries at Saturn and Titan
by Jean-Pierre LEBRETON, former head of the Huygens mission at ESA, associate researcher, CNRS-Université d’orléans-LPC2E, member of the EFA
The American-European mission (NASA/ESA) Cassini-Huygens was launched in October 1997 from Florida by the Titan IV rocket. The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft began orbiting after 7 years of travel around Saturn on 1 July 2004. Huygens landed on the surface of Titan on January 14, 2005. The exploration of Saturn and its natural satellites, in particular Titan and Enceladus, lasted 13 years. In order to preserve the future exploration of Titan and Enceladus, two moons with an ocean of liquid water under their ice surface, Cassini was precipitated at the end of the mission in the atmosphere of Saturn where he disintegrated on September 15, 2017 during the “Grand finale”.
Exploration of Jupiter; The Juice mission
by Olivier WITASSE, Head of the Juice Project at ESA/Estec
The European Juice Mission (for JUpiter ICy Moon Explorer), selected in 2012, is currently in the development phase for a launch scheduled for May 2022 from Kourou. The main objective of the mission will be to study from 2030 the three giant moons of Jupiter: Ganymede, Europe and Callisto, and in particular the oceans of liquid water that are thought to be present under their ice surface. The Juice project, the satellite, the instruments and its many technical, operational and human challenges, will be presented in detail with the help of visual animations.
Free admission in the limit of available places.
