For those of us who keep up to date with everything currently happening in our solar system, here's a news update direct from NASA: they're extending the mission time of the Cassini-Huygens probe by another two years, which pretty much gives the nuclear spacecraft more time to scout Saturn and its signature rings.

A bit of backgrounder on Cassini-Huygens: launched in October 1997, the nuclear-powered probe had spent a total of seven years journeying to Saturn and has orbited the ringed planet since June 2004. Originally, the probe's tour of duty was slated to end for July 2008, but the fact that the probe has discovered so much about the ringed planet and its moons has made the guys at NASA re-think that particular aspect of the mission.

And this time around, they're going to be a bit bolder in terms of exploration. For instance, Cassini's latest flyby of Enceladus, one of Saturn's moons, had the probe within 32 miles of the moon's surface. Future visits will now be closer than ever before, closing the distance to only 15 miles. This is to find out if Saturn's moons can actually retain and harbor life, as Encedalus is suspected to have liquid water hidden deep beneath.

What about technical issues, though? Well, besides a few glitches, Cassini-Huygens is in top shape, and should do well until its new tour of duty ends. Which is great, considering that the spacecraft itself took US$ 3.27 billion to design, launch, and maintain up in space. So it makes sense to get your money's worth of discoveries, even if the probe has already brought quite a lot of data already. In any case, updates as we get them, and you can check out more info in the via link below.