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Damage to Cassini Delays Launch
Damage to part of the insulation on the Cassini spacecraft, caused by a malfunctioning air conditioner on the launch pad, has delayed the launch of the controversial Saturn-bound spacecraft by at least a week.
![[image of Cassini removed from Titan 4]](../970915/images2/cassini-t4.jpg)
A 5-cm (2-inch) rip in the insulation on the Huygens probe, part of the Cassini spacecraft, was reported September 3. The tear was caused by an air conditioner on the launch pad, which was blowing air over the probe several times faster than necessary.
"It's very disappointing, but this is something we accept in this business," said Hamad Hassan, manager of the Huygens probe.
To repair the insulation, the spacecraft was demated from the Titan 4B booster and returned to a clean room for repairs on September 7. On September 13 NASA reported the tear was fixed and set a launch date "no earlier than" October 13.
Cassini was scheduled to launch on October 6. The primary launch window for Cassini runs though November 4. Launches can take place after the 4th through the 15th, although a launch in that time period would delay the arrival of Cassini at Saturn from six months up to two years.
The spacecraft, which cost nearly $1.5 billion, will take nearly seven years to travel to Saturn, using gravity assists from flybys of Jupiter, the Earth, and two flybys of Venus to reach Saturn. Once there it will spend at least four years studying the planet and its moons.
The Huygens probe attached to Cassini will be dropped into the dense atmosphere of Titan, Saturn's largest moon. The probe is designed to survive to the surface and can float if it lands in a pool of liquid hydrocarbons, as some scientists suggest covers Titan's surface. Huygens was built by the European Space Agency.
The mission has been the subject of protests by some anti-nuclear activists, who claim the plutonium in the spacecraft's power generators could be released in a launch of flyby accident, poisoning millions. NASA and other experts counter the risk of any radioactive release is minute.