Cassini-Huygens remains the most comprehensive Saturn mission ever flown, orbiting the ringed planet for 13 years and delivering over 453,000 images. It confirmed hydrothermal activity on Enceladus and detected liquid methane seas on Titan, outperforming #6 Curiosity on the Mars Science Laboratory in autonomous deep-space exploration by demonstrating consistent multi-year operations across extreme radiation belts. The spacecraft ended with a deliberate 2017 dive into Saturn's atmosphere to protect pristine moons—a finale that cost $3.26 billion but returned science worth an estimated $7.2 billion in discovery value.
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