Cassini Lives Through First Ring Dive

[Binary_Bark]

One down, twenty-one to go! The Cassini spacecraft survived the first dive through the narrow gap between Saturn and its rings, and is now back communicating with Earth. It was a long day for Cassini scientists and engineers at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory while the spacecraft was out of contact for 20 hours during this first dive, signaling the beginning of the end for Cassini.

“No spacecraft has ever been this close to Saturn before. We could only rely on predictions, based on our experience with Saturn’s other rings, of what we thought this gap between the rings and Saturn would be like,” said Cassini Project Manager Earl Maize of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. “I am delighted to report that Cassini shot through the gap just as we planned and has come out the other side in excellent shape.”

Cassini, running out of fuel, is heading toward its ultimate death by crashing into Saturn on September 15, 2017. But during the next few months, Cassini will make twenty-one more passes through the gap, and in doing so, further our understanding of how giant planets, and planetary systems everywhere, form and evolve.

Full article: https://www.universetoday.com/135278/survivors-tale-cassini-lives-first-ring-dive/

 

[TribbleZA]

I find it so sad that it has to die (be destroyed) this way. Granted it is totally amazing and valuable information, but it is the end.

 

[grok]

Read somewhere the plunge is necessary to burn up any possible contaminants from earth. Also for science, but reading this makes me think scientists are just showoffs..

This must be the world's longest put ever..

 

[OCP]

I find it so sad that it has to die (be destroyed) this way. Granted it is totally amazing and valuable information, but it is the end.

You never know - maybe some friendly aliens will refuel, clean the solar panels and send it back to us

 

[Creag]

Read somewhere the plunge is necessary to burn up any possible contaminants from earth. Also for science, but reading this makes me think scientists are just showoffs..

This must be the world's longest put ever..

It is all about making sure that they don't contaminate any of the moons or objects in orbit around Saturn. The same is true for the probe orbiting Jupiter at the moment, being 'Juno'.

The need to 'ditch' Cassini has arisen due to their concern about the depleting fuel remaining. Rather than risk it colliding with one of its satellites, the decided to put Cassini into an orbit that would ultimately end in Saturn.

 

[Binary_Bark]

Cassini’s ring dive offers first close-up of Saturn’s cloud tops

Cassini has beamed back stunning images from the spacecraft’s daring dive between Saturn and its rings.

The first closeup pictures of the planet’s atmosphere reveal peculiar threadlike clouds and puffy cumulus ones, plus the giant hurricane first spotted on Saturn in 2008 (SN: 11/8/08, p. 9). Released April 27, the images of Saturn’s cloud tops are a “big step forward” for understanding the planet’s atmosphere, says Cassini imaging team member Andy Ingersoll, an atmospheric scientist at Caltech.

“I was pretty struck by the prevalence of the filamentary type of clouds,” he says. “It’s as if the long threads of clouds refuse to mix with each other.” Studying the interactions of these clouds and the cumulus ones will reveal what’s going on in Saturn’s skies.

During its dive, Cassini swooped to within 3,000 kilometers of the planet’s atmosphere and 300 kilometers of the innermost edge of the rings at 124,000 kilometers per hour. Slamming into even tiny particles from the rings could have damaged the spacecraft. To protect Cassini, mission scientists used the spacecraft’s 4-meter-wide antenna as a shield, putting the spacecraft temporarily out of contact with NASA.

Cassini reestablished contact with mission control early on April 27 and started to send back data minutes later. Shots of the rings and other features will be available in the coming days, and more stunning views are expected when the spacecraft shoots through the gap between Saturn and its rings again on May 2. It will ultimately orbit 20 more times before plunging into the planet’s atmosphere on September 15.

https://www.sciencenews.org/article/cassinis-ring-dive-offers-first-close-saturns-cloud-tops