juliensimon/cassini-saturn-observations

---
license: cc-by-4.0
pretty_name: "Cassini Saturn Observations"
language:
- en
description: >-
Complete Cassini mission observation master schedule — 63,022 planned observations
of Saturn, its rings, and moons (2004--2017). From NASA PDS Atmospheres Node.
size_categories:
- 10K<n<100K
task_categories:
- tabular-classification
tags:
- open-data
- space
- saturn
- cassini
- nasa
- planetary-science
- pds
- tabular-data
configs:
- config_name: default
data_files:
- split: train
path: data/cassini_observations.parquet
default: true
---

# Cassini Saturn Observations

*Part of the [Planetary Science Datasets](https://huggingface.co/collections/juliensimon/planetary-science-datasets-69c24cb6dfc9bf82d6b2edf1) collection on Hugging Face.*

The complete **Cassini mission** observation master schedule — **63,022** planned science
observations spanning **2004** to **2017**. Cassini orbited Saturn for 13 years,
studying the planet, its rings, and its moons before its planned destruction in
Saturn's atmosphere on September 15, 2017.

## Schema

| Column | Type | Description |
|--------|------|-------------|
| `start_time_utc` | datetime | Observation start time (UTC) |
| `duration` | string | Planned duration of observation |
| `date` | string | Date string from the original schedule |
| `team` | string | Science team responsible (e.g. CIRS, ISS, UVIS, VIMS) |
| `spass_type` | string | SPASS observation type |
| `target` | string | Observation target (e.g. SATURN, TITAN, ENCELADUS, RINGS) |
| `request_name` | string | Internal request identifier |
| `library_definition` | string | Library definition reference |
| `title` | string | Observation title |
| `description` | string | Detailed description of the observation |

## Quick stats

- **63,022** planned observations (2004--2017)
- **46** distinct targets (most observed: Saturn)
- **15** science teams

## Usage

```python
from datasets import load_dataset

ds = load_dataset("juliensimon/cassini-saturn-observations", split="train")
df = ds.to_pandas()

# Observations by target
df["target"].value_counts().head(10)

# Titan flybys
titan = df[df["target"] == "TITAN"].sort_values("start_time_utc")

# Observations by science team
df["team"].value_counts()

# Timeline of observations per year
df["year"] = df["start_time_utc"].dt.year
df.groupby("year").size().plot(kind="bar")
```

## Data source

[NASA PDS Atmospheres Node — Cassini Master Schedule](https://pds-atmospheres.nmsu.edu/data_and_services/atmospheres_data/Cassini_PDS3/logs/).
The Cassini mission ended September 15, 2017; this is a static/archival dataset.

## Update frequency

Static dataset (Cassini mission ended 2017). No scheduled updates.

## Related datasets

- [mars-craters](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/mars-craters) — Martian impact craters
- [lunar-craters](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/lunar-craters) — Lunar impact craters
- [exoplanet-archive](https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/exoplanet-archive) — Confirmed exoplanets

## Pipeline

Source code: [juliensimon/space-datasets](https://github.com/juliensimon/space-datasets)

## Citation

```bibtex
@dataset{cassini_observations,
author = {Simon, Julien},
title = {Cassini Saturn Observations},
year = {2026},
publisher = {Hugging Face},
url = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/juliensimon/cassini-saturn-observations},
note = {Based on Cassini mission master schedule from NASA PDS Atmospheres Node}
}
```

## License

[CC-BY-4.0](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)