On 15 October 1997, the NASA Cassini Orbiter and the European ESA Huygens probe were launched (QuickTime Movie 1.4 MB) together from Cape Canaveral with a Titan IVB/Centaur launch vehicle. The mission got its name from two prominent scientists: Giovanni Domenico Cassini und Christiaan Huygens.

The spacecraft has a baseline total mass of 5634 kg including the Huygens probe (350 kg), the propellants (3132 kg) and all science instruments. The orbiter stands 6.8 meters high, and its maximum diameter of the high-gain antenna (HGA) primary reflector is 4 meters. The HGA is used for the communication with Earth-based stations with the spacecraft. There were two flybys at the planet Venus (April 1998 and June 1999) and one at the Earth (August 1999), and finally after passing Jupiter around the end of 2000 Cassini/Huygens arrived at Saturn in July 2004.

The European Huygens Probe (QuickTime Movie 20.9 MB) was separated from the Cassini Orbiter (QuickTime Movie 3.3 MB) in 2004 and after a 2.5 hours long descent landed on Saturn's moon Titan in January 2005.

The institute participates on four experiments on probe and orbiter.