PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION 
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

CASSINI PROGRAM STATUS
February 14, 1997

     Having successfully completed recent space environmental 
tests,  NASA's Cassini spacecraft, destined for the planet 
Saturn, has been returned to JPL's spacecraft assembly facility 
for a final round of systems testing.  

     The program remains on schedule and within budget.

     The spacecraft, due for launch Oct. 6, will be shipped this 
spring to NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida for pre-launch 
preparations .

     Cassini last week completed a month of  so-called "shake and 
bake" tests that imitate the vibration forces and extreme 
temperatures the spacecraft will have to withstand during its 
upcoming launch and flight through space.  Reflective gold-
colored space blankets have been sewn and laced into place on the 
Saturn orbiter.  The 24-layer blankets will protect Cassini's 
computers and other systems from the extreme hot and cold of 
space.      

     The painstaking assembly of Cassini, the most sophisticated 
U.S. planetary spacecraft ever built, has been under way at JPL 
since 1995.  Development of the mission began in 1989 and has 
involved the efforts of thousands of people at university and 
government research labs and technology and business firms across 
the country.  In Europe, work continues on the Huygens probe that 
will be mounted on Cassini and dropped via parachute to the 
surface of  Saturn's largest and most mysterious moon, Titan.  
The Huygens probe will be mated with the Cassini spacecraft at 
Kennedy Space Center in late spring.

     After a nearly seven-year trip, Cassini will reach Saturn in 
July 2004.  There, it will enter  orbit around the ringed planet 
and make detailed, four-year observations of Saturn, its largest 
moon Titan, several smaller icy moons, and the magnetic 
environment surrounding the planet.  The Huygens probe destined 
for Titan's surface is provided by the European Space Agency 
(ESA).  The probe will parachute to the surface of Titan, thought 
to resemble an early Earthlike environment before life began.  
The mission is an international effort of NASA, ESA and the 
Italian Space Agency (ASI), and is managed for NASA by JPL.