Missions to Saturn

Saturn, the sixth planet from the Sun, has welcomed visits from four spacecraft, hoping to discover more about its magnificent rings and diverse family of moons.

Pioneer 11 led the way in 1979, capturing the the first close-up images of the Saturn. It was soon followed by Voyager 1 in 1980 and Voyager 2 in 1981, which discovered the Saturn's rings are composed of chunks of rock and ice. Over two decades later, in 2004, the Cassini-Huygens mission took in Saturn's majestics sights and even sounds. During this mission, the Huygens probe detached from the Cassini orbiter and descended through the atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. It transmitted back stunning images of a hazy world dotted with lakes of liquid methane, accompanied by the eerie sounds of alien winds.

The end of the 2020s should see the launch of Dragonfly, a mission set to soar towards Saturn with a focus on exploring Titan. This innovative spacecraft is expected to reach Titan around 2034 with the ability to fly across the moon's landscape — a first in the annals of space exploration