Aster › Space program › Saturn
Saturn
Position on the route: 16/45 · level needed 110 · journey (Mk0 engine) 24.6 h
By the numbers
| Diameter | 116,460 km |
|---|---|
| Mass | 95 Earths |
| Day | 10 h 33 min |
| Year | 29.5 Earth years |
| Density | 0.69 g/cm³ |
| Rings | the widest, 282,000 km |
The story
The ringed giant of the Solar System, less dense than water. The rings are almost all water ice and rock; mostly no thicker than ten metres, they spread across 282,000 km. A hexagonal storm 30,000 km across circles the north pole.
Cassini (2004–2017) stayed 13 years in the Saturn system and released Huygens to Titan. The rings are slowly raining onto the planet and may vanish within a hundred million years.
Missions
- Pioneer 11 (1979)
- Voyager 1 and 2 (1980–81)
- Cassini–Huygens (2004–2017)
- Dragonfly (2028): a rotorcraft to Titan
Colony note
A gas giant: an orbital station. Hydrogen, helium-3 and methane are plentiful; the gateway to its moons.
☠ A gas giant: there is no surface to land on. With the orbital-habitat research a station is built in orbit, beside the rings.
What probes bring back
- Density 0.69 g/cm³: it would float in water.
- The hexagonal cloud system at the north pole is 30,000 km across (Voyager 1980, Cassini).