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A project of the
The Planets—
An HD Odyssey
Cassini–Unlocking Saturn’s Secrets
• The Cassini mission is an international cooperative effort
involving NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian
space agency Agenzia Spazia Italiano, as well as several
separate academic and industrial contributors.
• Cassini reached Saturn in 2004 after an interplanetary cruise
spanning nearly 7 years.
• Along its path to Saturn, Cassini traveled past Venus, Earth
and Jupiter in “gravity assist” maneuvers that increased the
speed of the spacecraft.
• A scientific probe called Huygens was released from Cassini
to explore the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon.
• The spacecraft includes 22,000 wire connections and 14
kilometers (8.7 miles) of cabling.
• 260 scientists from 17 countries hope to gain a better
understanding of Saturn, its stunning rings, its
magnetosphere, Titan and its other icy moons from the
Cassini Mission.
Photo and information credit: © NASA/JPL
A project of the
The Planets—
An HD Odyssey
Photo and information credit: © NASA/JPL
Mission–Galileo
• Galileo was launched October 18, 1989 on the space shuttle
Atlantis. It was released from the shuttle by Astronaut
Shannon Lucid.
• Used “VEEGA” (Venus-Earth-Earth Gravity Assist) to set the
spacecraft’s trajectory to Jupiter.
• The Jupiter approach phase officially began on October 9,
1995, 6 years after the initial mission launch.
• Galileo carried enough equipment to perform 12 different
scientific experiments, which gathered various types of data
about Jupiter.
• The scientific probe that was released from Galileo in July
1995 was able to collect 58 minutes of data on the local
weather. It measured winds of 450 miles per hour.
A project of the
The Planets—
An HD Odyssey
Photo and information credit: © NASA/JPL
Jupiter, Are You Ready
for Your Close Up?
The images selected to create The Planets—An HD Odyssey
are taken from data returned by planetary spacecraft which
have explored our solar system over the past 35 years. Also
used in the production are a number of movies which were
created by the scientist teams. These movies animate specific
features of particular planets. For example, a number of
‘weather movies’ are shown during the Jupiter movement
and a rendering of both RADAR images and topographic
information allows a visualization of flying over the volcanoes
of Venus. The graphics in the production are computer
generated and great care was taken to create the most
realistic renditions using real data returned from spacecraft.
The majority of the images come from the latest missions and
are produced in High Definition. All represent some of the
most spectacular results made by NASA and a number of other
organizations dedicated to unlocking the secrets of Earth’s
planetary neighborhood.
—Duncan Copp, Producer / Director
A project of the
The Planets—
An HD Odyssey
Mars
Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter
• The four goals of the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter:
Determine whether life ever arose on Mars; Characterize
the climate of Mars; Characterize the geology of Mars;
Prepare for human exploration
• The Orbiter carries the most powerful telescopic camera
ever flown to another planet; it can show Martian landscape
features as small as a kitchen table from the spacecraft’s
low orbital altitude.
Photos and information credit: © NASA/JPL
Mars Rovers: Spirit and
Opportunity
“Think of Spirit and Opportunity as
robotic field geologists. They look
around with a stereo, color camera and
with an infrared instrument that can
classify rock types from a distance.
They go to the rocks that seem most
interesting. When they get to one,
they reach out with a robotic arm that
has a handful of tools, a microscope,
two instruments for identifying what
the rock is made of, and a grinder for
getting to a fresh, unweathered surface
inside the rock.”
–Dr. Steve Squyres of
Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y
A project of the
The Planets—
An HD Odyssey
Photo and information credit: © NASA/JPL
Mercury Missions
MESSENGER
• MESSENGER was launched August 3, 2004
• MESSENGER explores Mercury’s polar deposits, crustal
composition, core & magnetic dynamo, crust and mantle,
geologic evolution, magnetosphere and exosphere.
• MESSENGER provides an orbiter for detailed
characterization of the surface, interior, atmosphere and
magnetosphere of the planet
• MESSENGER stands for MErcury Surface, Space
ENvironment, GEochemistry, & Ranging
Mariner 10
• Mariner 10 was the first mission to use the gravitational
attraction of one planet to reach another
• Mariner 10 was the first mission with 2 planetary objectives
• Launched November 3, 1973
• Reached Mercury March 29, 1974 and passed by 3 times
• Mariner 10 took the first photographs of Mercury, which
revealed an intensely cratered, Moon-like surface and a
faint atmosphere of helium
A project of the
The Planets—
An HD Odyssey
Photo and information credit: © NASA/JPL
Mission–Voyager I & II
• Voyager I is currently farther from Earth than any other
human-made object and continues to speed outward at
more than 17 kilometers per second (38,000 miles per hour)
• The Voyager missions main goal was to explore all of the
giant outer planets of our solar system (Saturn, Jupiter,
Uranus and Neptune), 48 of their moons, and the unique
systems of rings and magnetic fields those planets possess.
• Scientists were able to extend each spacecraft’s lifetime
–both were originally intended to have a 5 year lifespan, but
they are now over 30 years old.
• Voyager II captured images of Uranus’s five largest moons
that revealed complex surfaces indicative of varying
geologic pasts.
• Both Voyager spacecrafts carry a greeting to any life
form, should that be encountered. The message is carried
by a phonograph record – a 12 inch gold-plated copperdisk
containing sounds and images of life on Earth.