The Cassini-Huygens mission is an ambitious joint project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency), and Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI, the Italian Space Agency). Cassini-Huygens is the largest interplanetary spacecraft ever built. It was launched October 5th, 1997 to study the Saturnian system over a four-year period. Cassini (named for Italian Jean-Dominique Cassini who discovered the Saturnian satellites Iapetus, Rhea, Tethys and Dione) is the actual spacecraft, Huygens (named for Dutch scientist Christiaan Huygens who discovered Saturn’s rings and its largest moon, Titan) is a probe that is scheduled to land on Titan in just a few days.
The official NASA JPL Cassini-Huygens site contains news, images, video clips, mission statistics, and a mission status countdown clock. And the site is powered by ColdFusion MX.
On the other side of the Atlantic, the ESA Cassini-Huygens site contains educational information about Saturn, Titan, Cassini-Huygens, and more. Significant portions of this site are also powered by ColdFusion MX (see Huygens Probe Separation and Coast Phase and Huygens’ Descent in Titan Atmosphere for examples).
Thanks to Paul Hastings for sharing this great find!
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