PASADENA, Calif. -- A newly discovered hardware problem aboard the Cassini spacecraft may leave it unable to receive much of the science data the Huygens probe will collect when it parachutes down onto Saturns moon Titan in 2004.

Meanwhile, Cassini snapped its first color images of the planet Jupiter as it nears its destination. The first color image was taken from 50 million miles (81 million kilometers) by Cassini's camera, and proves that the imaging systems onboard are still intact. The picture shows the colored latitudinal bands encircling the planet in the upper atmosphere.

Recent tests conducted by the European Space Agency (ESA) -- which contributed Huygens to NASAs Cassini mission -- revealed that the existing link between the probe and orbiter cannot support the full recovery of the data generated during the 2.5 hour plunge through Titans atmosphere.

"The problem is in the receiver: the bandwidth within it is not as wide as the design called for," said Bob Mitchell, the Cassini program manager at NASAs Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

In practical terms, that could mean much of the science data relayed from the Huygens probe to Cassinis finely tuned ear could be beyond what the receiver is capable of hearing.

However, with four years and a month remaining before Cassinis scheduled jettisoning of Huygens, Mitchell said engineers aim to get a fix in place so no data is lost.

"We hope to recover all of it. Thats not a promise to you we will, but that s certainly our objective," Mitchell said. "I am optimistic we will get this fixed."

Although there is no way to work around the hardware aboard Cassini itself -- the spacecraft now is approaching Jupiter -- engineers hope to perhaps increase the spacecrafts flyby distance from Titan. That maneuver would lead to an increased signal level with a reduced Doppler shift, enabling the data signal to remain within the existing bandwidth.