It was a huge coincidence. There really wasn't a way to target the probe at an area of interest, since pretty much the entire planet would count as an area of interest. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /><br /><br />The probe carried by Cassini, incidentally, is not a Saturn atmospheric probe. It's actually intended to land on Titan, but there is so little known about Titan that it's almost a complete mystery what it'll find! It's almost like the first Venus landings -- Titan's very nearly a "black box" right now. The probe is called "Huygens". It will not be in communication for more than three minutes no matter what; that's when Cassini will disappear over Titan's horizon, not to return for months.<br /><br />Regarding possible future probes.....<br /><br />There are no current plans for atmospheric probes to gas giants, but there are lots of ideas. One idea is a balloon that would refuel itself from Jupiter's atmosphere (which, among other things, has a lot of hydrogen). Balloon probes have also been suggested for the other gas giants, and for more terrestrial worlds such as Venus, Titan, and Mars. The main problem is that there are lots of great ideas, and only so much time and money. <img src="/images/icons/wink.gif" /> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em> -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>