Despite the recent budget cutbacks announced for NASA by the Obama administration, the U.S. space agency reported yesterday that it will extend the Cassini spacecraft mission for another seven years to continue it’s study of the planet Saturn along with it’s moons and famous ring system. That’s right executive branch, SPACE in yo’ FACE!

Cassini has been returning some great science and photos since it first arrived to the Saturanin system in 2004 and it doesn’t look to slow down any time soon. The recent extension should also give mission planners plenty of time to study the moons Titan and Enceladus more in detail, along with planning for a post-Cassini orbiter mission to the ringed planet.

Pictures of Saturns moons, from left-right: Iapetus, Dione, Hyperion, Enceladus, Prometheus, Pan within the rings, and Tethhys passing behind Titan.

Here is a link to a bigger view of the Saturn image above. Also, be sure to read up on NASA’s Top Ten Cassini discoveries thus far in it’s mission.

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