When the Cassini spacecraft plummeted into Saturn in September of last year, it ended the highly successful 20-year mission of exploring Saturn and its moons. Cassini was launched on October 15, 1997, flew by Venus, Earth, and Jupiter and arrived at Saturn on July 1, 2004. This presentation will describe the mission in detail. Specific topics include spacecraft design, trajectory to Saturn, cruise science results, Saturn orbit insertion and science results. After a seven-year, two-billion-mile journey, Cassini embarked on its four-year prime mission. That was followed by a two-year extended mission (Cassini Equinox Mission) and then the seven-year doubly extended mission (Cassini Solstice Mission). Mr. Barber will show images and videos highlighting Cassini’s missions and addressing the five equal science objectives of understanding Saturn’s rings, magnetosphere, icy satellites, largest moon Titan, and the planet itself.
Todd Barber was the lead propulsion engineer for the Cassini Mission. He had previously worked on the Mars Exploration Rover Mission, the Deep Impact Mission (as lead impact propulsion engineer) and the Mars Science Laboratory (Curiosity) Mission. His primary responsibility for the Galileo Mission was orbit insertion at Jupiter, for which he received NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Award. He made additional contributions to the Space Infra-Red Telescope Facility mission, the Stardust Mission, the planned Mars Sample Return Mission, a Mars airplane study, and the Deep Space One Mission. Todd has B.S. and M.S. degrees in aerospace engineering from MIT. He composes church choral music, sings and plays piano, and enjoys amateur astronomy.