In these glory days of Mars exploration, let's not forget about Cassini.

Cassini, then one of the most sophisticated planetary spacecraft ever built, was launched on October 15, 1997 from Cape Canaveral. Its ultimate mission is a thorough, in-depth, 4-year-long exploration of the Saturn system which will begin when Cassini arrives there, after a 7 year journey across the solar system, in july 2004. A 3.4 billion kilometer looping voyage across the solar system. That's a long journey!

Cassini's approach to Saturn has begun, and today the Imaging Team is marking the event with the release of a color composite of the ringed planet made from images taken on February 9, 2004.

Via CICLOPS (Cassini Imaging Central Laboratory for Operations). Read more about Cassini there.

Science [15:44]