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MEDIA RELATIONS 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

Contact: JPL/Guy Webster (818) 354-6278

Programs Will Share Excitement of Saturn-Bound Mission
March 14, 2003 

Two free public programs in Pasadena next week will offer a
preview of the first mission to orbit Saturn. 

Robert Mitchell, NASA's program manager for the
international Cassini-Huygens mission, will show pictures
and describe the adventure on Thursday evening, March 20, at
NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and on Friday evening,
March 21, at Pasadena City College. 

Cassini-Huygens is running the final leg of its long journey to
reach Saturn on July 1, 2004. It passed Jupiter two years ago
and has also swung near Venus and Earth since its launch in
1997. The main Cassini spacecraft will examine Saturn's windy
atmosphere, dramatic rings, diverse moons and wrap-around
magnetic environment while orbiting the planet for four years.
Early in the orbital tour, it will release a smaller probe,
Huygens, to parachute through the atmosphere of Titan,
Saturn's largest moon. Huygens will take pictures and
in-place measurements of Titan's dense, nitrogen-rich
atmosphere, which bears similarities to the primordial
atmosphere of Earth. 

Mitchell will also discuss the human efforts making the mission 
possible. Approximately 500 people at JPL and partner organizations 
are currently working on it. Cassini-Huygens is a cooperative 
endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space 
Agency. 

Mitchell has managed Cassini since 1998 and managed NASA's Galileo 
mission to Jupiter prior to that.  He joined JPL in 1965. He has 
worked on spacecraft trajectory design, mission design, and 
navigation for Mariner and Viking missions to Mars, and for 
Galileo. 

Both lectures will begin at 7 p.m. Seating is first-come, 
first-served. The Thursday lecture will be in JPL's von Karman 
Auditorium. JPL is at 4800 Oak Grove Dr., off the Oak Grove Drive 
exit of the 210 (Foothill) Freeway. The Friday lecture will be in 
Pasadena City College's Vosloh Forum, 1570 E.  Colorado Blvd. For 
more information, call (818) 354-0112. Thursday's lecture will be 
webcast live and available afterwards at 

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/events/lectures/mar03.html .

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