NASA has extended the Cassini-Huygens mission by two years, until July 2010. There will be 60 more orbits of Saturn, and 26 more moon flybys, including 26 flybys of Titan, 7 flybys at Enceladus, and one more flyby of Dione, Rhea, and Helene. Cassini will study Saturn’s rings, its complex magnetosphere, and Saturn itself.

Many new and surprising discoveries have been made at Saturn. Scientists at JPL (Jet Propulsion Laboratory), who monitor Cassini, are very excited about the mission’s extension and what else will be discovered. Priorities for the next 2 years include: ice volcanoes at Enceladus, further study of Titan, monitoring seasons on Titan and Saturn, Saturn’s rings during the 2009 equinox, and exploring new places in Saturn’s magnetosphere.

Cassini has been at Saturn for 4 years and has returned data on a daily basis. It has returned about 140,000 images so far. Cassini has gathered information from 62 orbits of Saturn, 43 flybys of Titan, and 12 close flybys of other moons. Cassini is still functioning very well and may have enough fuel to do another extension after 2010.