Last month, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft went where nothing made by humans had ever gone before — it successfully navigated a path between Saturn and its rings and survived. Cassini also beamed back pictures and other essential data as it maneuvered
Last month, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft went where nothing made by humans had ever gone before — it successfully navigated a path between Saturn and its rings and survived. Cassini also beamed back pictures and other essential data as it maneuvered the 1,500-mile-wide space between the solar system’s second largest planet and its icy rings.
The images, which take 78 minutes to make the billion-mile trip back to Earth, reveal a blazing, mysterious process of alternating light and darkness in the rings that scientists will be working to understand for years. That seems only fair since it already took 20 years for Cassini to be in a position to do what it is doing so far.
Between now and September, Cassini will make 22 dives between Saturn’s rings and the planet, clocking at an impressive 76,800 mph each time. The end result should be a treasure trove of stunning images of the planet, its diverse and mysterious rings along with detailed maps of the gas giant’s gravity, magnetic fields and atmospheric conditions.
On Sept. 15, it will plunge into Saturn’s atmosphere, streaming data back to Earth as it makes its descent of no return. It will be a bittersweet moment for the scientists at NASA, the Italian Space Agency and the European Space Agency, which collaborated on the mission.
Still, Cassini will have unveiled many more of Saturn’s secrets before its final moments. We’ve been deeply enriched as a species by Cassini’s two-decade-long mission. It has deepened our understanding of planetary formation and will pay dividends undreamed of for decades.
There’s no reason to mourn Cassini yet. It is still very much with us, but a day is coming when it will be gripped by Saturn’s gravity and destroyed within minutes.
Its burned pieces will be strewn across the planet’s gaseous nether regions. Whatever particles make it to the lower atmosphere will be gripped by hurricane strong winds that scientists think have raged for thousands of years. Still, there will be glory in knowing that something from Earth ever made it that far.
— Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
