NASA spacecraft successfully passes Saturn's moons

LOS ANGELES, April 12 (Xinhua) -- NASA's Cassini spacecraft completed its double flyby this week, swinging by Saturn's moons Titan and Dione with no maneuver in between, the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) said Monday.

The spacecraft has beamed back stunning raw images of fractured terrain and craters on Dione, a moon that had only been visited once before by Cassini, the JPL said in a press release.

Cassini obtained fewer images of Titan than expected as an unexpected autonomous reset occurred during the flyby, but the cameras were reset before reaching Dione, which was the primary target on this double flyby, according to the release.

Cassini had made three previous double flybys and another two are planned in the years ahead. The mission is nearing the end of its first extension, known as the Equinox Mission.

It will begin its second mission extension, known as the Solstice Mission, in October 2010, the release said.

Scientists are poring over data from Dione to discern whether the moon could be a source of charged particles to the environment around Saturn and material to one of its rings. They are also trying to understand the origin of dark material found on Dione.

The mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate in Washington.

The Cassini orbiter was designed, developed and assembled at the JPL.