Cassini's landmark tour of Saturn began July 1, 2004 UTC with the Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI) engine burn. The burn slowed the spacecraft down, allowing it to be captured by Saturn's gravity. The spacecraft is now on a 4-year scientific exploration of the ringed planet, its moons and magnetosphere.

Cassini will make 74 unique orbits around the planet, using close flybys of Saturn's largest moon Titan for gravity assists and science data acquistion. Because of the size of Titan, the flybys will allow for major changes in orbital paths, allowing engineers to minimize fuel use while maximizing science data collection.

Cassini's tour of the Saturn system is divided into 6 different segments. Each segment contains many Saturn and Titan flybys as well as opportunities to study smaller satellites.

Cassini's 6 Major Tour Segments Saturn Orbit Insertion and Probe Release: White Petal Occultation Sequence: Orange Petal Petal Rotation & Magnetotail Petal: Green Petal Titan 180 Transfer: Blue Petal Rotation/Icy Satellites: Yellow Petal High Inclination Sequence: Red Petal

Highlights of the Saturn Tour

• 74 Orbits of Saturn
• 44 Close flybys of Titan
• 8 close "targeted" flybys of other satellites:
  • 3 close flybys of Enceladus
  • Phoebe
  • Hyperion
  • Dione
  • Rhea
  • Iapetus
• 30 additional satellite flybys at distances less than 100,000 kilometers
  (about 62,100 miles)
• Many Saturn and Ring occultation opportunities
• One "Titan 180 degree" transfer
• One high inclination sequence

For more information check out the Saturn tour schedule.

Above is the Cassini-Huygens Mission "Petal Plot" with both aerial and edge-on views. This plot outlines the tour of the spacecraft around Saturn, Titan and the icy satellites

Check out the QuickTime illustration of the path the Cassini spacecraft will take during its four year mission at Saturn.

Cassini Tour Subphase Boundaries

Segment	Start Date	End Date	Start Orbit	End Orbit	Subphase Title
1	7/1/2004	2/15/2005	SOI	3	SOI & Probe Release
2	2/15/2005	9/7/2005	3	14	Occultation Sequence
3	9/7/2005	7/22/2006	14	26	Petal Rotation / Magnetotail Petal
4	7/22/2006	6/30/2007	26	47	180 Transfer
5	6/30/2007	8/31/2007	47	49	Rotation / Icy Satellites
6	8/30/2007	7/1/2008	49	End of mission (74)	High Inclination Sequence