Cassini-Huygens Space Probe - Naburn, UK - Exact Replicas on Waymarking.com

The model is along the route of part of the original East Coast Mainline railway line between York and Riccall.

The opening of a new large coal mine led to fears that it could cause subsidence along this stretch of railway line so it was diverted onto another route.

After a campaign the abandoned stretch of railway was converted to a cycle and walking trail in 1987. Since then cycle routes have been extended throughout the UK and this is now part of National Cycle Route 65.

In 1999, the nearby York University that has an observatory, built a scale model of the Solar System along the route as part of the celebrations for the Millennium. They named the model 'Cycle the Solar System' and it was made possible by a Millennium Award to its creators Dave Coulthard, Willy Hoedeman & Peter Thompson.

Along it you can find scale models of the sun and all the planets in our solar system as well as models of the Voyager 1 and this Cassini-Huygens space probes.

The Original Cassini-Huygens Space Probe

"For more than a decade, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shared the wonders of Saturn and its family of icy moons—taking us to astounding worlds where methane rivers run to a methane sea and where jets of ice and gas are blasting material into space from a liquid water ocean that might harbor the ingredients for life.

Cassini revealed in great detail the true wonders of Saturn, a giant world ruled by raging storms and delicate harmonies of gravity.

Cassini carried a passenger to the Saturn system, the European Huygens probe—the first human-made object to land on a world in the distant outer solar system.

After 20 years in space — 13 of those years exploring Saturn — Cassini exhausted its fuel supply. And so, to protect moons of Saturn that could have conditions suitable for life, Cassini was sent on a daring final mission that would seal its fate. After a series of nearly two dozen nail-biting dives between the planet and its icy rings, Cassini plunged into Saturn’s atmosphere on Sept. 15, 2017, returning science data to the very end." link

The Model

An information panel underneath the model has the following information.

Cycle The Solar System

The Cassini-Huygens Space Probe
One third scale model

The Cassini-Huygens space probe was designed to explore Saturn's rings and moons, sending back high resolution pictures to Earth.
Launched on 15th October 1997 and arriving at Saturn in July 2004.

Cassini is the main part of the spacecraft and Huygens is the disc-shaped probe on the far side of the model. The Huygens probe, built by the European Space Agency & Agenzia Spaziale Italiana, was launched from Cassini onto Titan, Saturn's largest moon, in January 2005. Titan has an atmosphere of nitrogen, the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere.
When Cassini was launched we knew of 18 moons orbiting Saturn. We now know of more than 60.
The real Cassini-Huygens spacecraft weighs 5.7 Tonnes and is 6.7 metres long. The mission cost $3.27 billion and is set to end in 2017.

This model of the Voyager was built by Dave Coulthard, one of the scientists responsible for the solar system model. For more information about the Cassini-Huygens program go to https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

Cycle the Solar System: www.yorksacauk/solar

Where is original located?: Outside the Solar System Where is this replica located?: 'Cycle the Solar System' trail Who created the original?: Dave Coulthard Internet Link about Original: https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov Year Original was Created (approx. ok): 1977

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