The Benefits of a Long-Term Mission

Today's Astronomy Picture of the Day shows the benefits of a long-term mission and why, as long as the spacecraft continues to function, it should continue to be funded so as to return data. If Cassini had just been a flyby mission, or if Cassini had been defunded at the supposed "end" of the mission (it has been extended several times), we would have missed these active processes on Titan!