Channel: Naked Science

Category: Science & Technology

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Description: Subscribe to Naked Science – goo.gl/wpc2Q1 The Cassini-Huygens mission began with an epic 7 year, 1 billion mile journey to Saturn, and if all went according to plan, would be the first probe to orbit the ringed planet, the first landing on a celestial body in the outer solar system, and first to ever sample an extraterrestrial ocean. For the mission to succeed the Huygens probe needed to send its data from the surface of Titan, back to the orbiting mothership Cassini. Cassini would then relay the information to Earth. Before this fixed communication system could prove its worth, Cassini and Huygens had to overcome one last deadly obstacle, Saturn’s rings looming on its horizon.