Cassini spacecraft at test facilities

The Cassini Orbiter Flight Model is shown mounted on a transporter for transfer to the environmental test facilities at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL). With the thermal blankets removed, the central cylindrical Propulsion Module is exposed, with experiments mounted peripherally. To the left side can be seen the rear of the ESA's Huygens Probe's carbon-fibre front shield structure, also without its thermal blankets, and on top the white-painted rear-side of the High Gain Antenna (HGA) provided by the Italian Space Agency (ASI). The Probe seen here is the Structural, Thermal & Pyro Model (STPM). [Image Date: 01-05-97] [97.07.002-001]