Customer Reviews

Mission to Saturn: Cassini and the Huygens Probe (Springer Praxis Books / Space Exploration)

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In David M. Harland's latest work, MISSION TO SATURN: CASSINI AND THE HUYGENS PROBE, the reader will find an excellent compendium of mankind's efforts to unravel the mysteries of the ringed giant planet culminating in the current joint U.S./European Cassini/Huygens mission, which one should note still has 1.5 years remaining before it reaches its primary target. Readers familiar with Harland's style will not be surprised that he hews closely to the now familiar, and almost formulaic, approach adopted for his well-received book on the Galileo mission to Jupiter. The first four chapters of MISSION TO SATURN are used to recount the centuries of astronomical observations that preceded the modern spacecraft reconnaissance and exploration efforts of Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2; the final extended chapter is devoted almost exclusively to the Cassini/Huygens mission. In true workmanlike fashion, Harland utilizes his historian's eye for details, his archivist-like pursuit of primary source materials, many of which are very hard to find, and his rather considerable talent in rendering technical and scientific matters accessible to a wide range of readers. I highly recommend MISSION TO SATURN, which is richly illustrated and abundantly footnoted, to readers of all levels. The Cassini/Huygens mission will, if all goes as planned, return a veritable flood of data that will revolutionize our knowledge of the saturnian system. In anticipation of this, MISSION TO SATURN should take a prominent place on the planetary scientist's bookshelf.