Image credit: NASA
The Cassini spacecraft has been exploring Saturn and its rings and moons since it arrived in 2004. One of the instruments onboard is the Cassini Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) – an instrument ideally suited to identifying molecular constituents within Saturn’s and Titan’s atmospheres. Recently, using instrument command sequences validated by SESDA 3 operations personnel and science telemetry calibrated by SESDA 3 programmers, a CIRS team scientist was able to confirm the presence of propylene gas in Titan’s atmosphere, the first such discovery of the chemical on any Solar System body other than Earth. The news was featured both on
JPL’s Website and on
news.cnet.com.
