{"id":18806,"date":"2017-09-14T19:32:01","date_gmt":"2017-09-14T11:32:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp-productionenv-bjg9h2g2bgg5b8aa.southeastasia-01.azurewebsites.net\/news\/cassini-orbiters-team-turns-saturn-crash-into-cause-for-celebration-and-for-science\/"},"modified":"2017-09-14T19:32:01","modified_gmt":"2017-09-14T11:32:01","slug":"cassini-orbiters-team-turns-saturn-crash-into-cause-for-celebration-and-for-science","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/news\/cassini-orbiters-team-turns-saturn-crash-into-cause-for-celebration-and-for-science\/","title":{"rendered":"Cassini orbiter\u2019s team turns Saturn crash into cause for celebration \u2013 and for science"},"content":{"rendered":"<figure id=\"attachment_362306\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-362306\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img fetchpriority=\"high\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-362306\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170913-cassini-630x378.jpg\" alt=\"Cassini's end\" width=\"630\" height=\"378\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170913-cassini-630x378.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170913-cassini-768x461.jpg 768w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170913-cassini-1260x757.jpg 1260w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170913-cassini.jpg 1687w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-362306\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">An artist\u2019s conception shows the Cassini orbiter zooming through the upper layers of Saturn\u2019s atmosphere, heading for a fiery breakup. (NASA \/ JPL-Caltech Illustration)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Twenty years after its launch to Saturn, NASA has set the Cassini orbiter on a course for certain destruction on Friday \u2013 but there\u2019s a decidedly positive spin to the $3.3 billion mission\u2019s end.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ll be saddened, there\u2019s no doubt about it, at the loss of such an incredible machine,\u201d Cassini program manager Earl Maize said Wednesday during a news briefing at NASA\u2019s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. \u201cBut I think all of us are going to have a great sense of pride in .. a little bit corny, perhaps \u2026 a \u2018mission accomplished.&#8217;\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The bus-sized, plutonium-powered spacecraft was launched in 1997 and reached Saturn seven years later. It\u2019s logged 4.9 billion miles, sent back nearly half a million images of the ringed planet and its moons, and transmitted 635 gigabytes worth of scientific data so far.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019ll continue sending data all the way to the end, when it\u2019s expected to break apart and burn up in the upper levels of Saturn\u2019s atmosphere.<\/p>\n<p>The last batch of imagery, including a picture showing the area of Saturn where the breakup is planned, is being captured today and should be back on Earth tonight.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Cassini's Postcards From Saturn\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/a6y01PSb6qU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>During the mission\u2019s final minutes, Cassini\u2019s robotic \u201cnose\u201d \u2013 known as the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer, or INMS&nbsp;\u2013 will be sniffing the molecules above Saturn\u2019s cloud tops.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cOne of the most important scientific things that we\u2019re trying to figure out is a concept known as \u2018ring rain,\u2019 said INMS science team leader Hunter Waite, a planetary scientist at the Southwest Research Institute.<\/p>\n<p>Waite said scientists have long suggested that water ice particles are falling from Saturn\u2019s rings into the atmosphere. \u201cRing rain is much more extensive than that. It\u2019s much more complicated. \u2026 We\u2019re trying to find out exactly what is coming from the rings and what is due to the atmosphere,\u201d he said. \u201cThat final plunge will allow us to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The probe\u2019s magnetometer and plasma science instruments, as well as the radio science system, will also be collecting data for real-time transmission back to Earth \u2013 at a rate low enough to ensure that the data\u2019s received all the way up to the probe\u2019s last gasp.<\/p>\n<p>Cassini\u2019s final signals are due to register at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory at 4:55 a.m. PT Friday, after making the 83-minute transit from Saturn to Earth at the speed of light.<\/p>\n<h4>13 years of discoveries<\/h4>\n<p>Thousands of scientists and engineers have worked for decades to prepare and execute Cassini\u2019s scientific campaign, which lasted for 13 years at Saturn.<\/p>\n<p>The orbiter and its piggyback probe, the European-built Huygens lander, have revealed rivers and lakes of hydrocarbons flowing on the surface of smog-covered Titan, Saturn\u2019s largest moon.<\/p>\n<p>Cassini\u2019s readings have confirmed the presence of watery geysers spouting up from cracks in the icy surface of Enceladus, another Saturnian moon. Enceladus\u2019 hidden ocean may even harbor life.<\/p>\n<p><iframe title=\"Star Trek Doctor sings to the Cassini spacecraft\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/pPnZQIkSNmU?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen=\"\" data-ratio=\"0.5625\" data-width=\"800\" data-height=\"450\" style=\"display: block; margin: 0px; width: 800px; height: 450px;\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cEnceladus\u2019 discoveries, made by Cassini, are certainly one of the most astonishing sets of discoveries for planetary science,\u201d said JPL\u2019s Linda Spilker, project scientist for the Cassini mission. \u201cTo find that there\u2019s an ocean world so tiny, with the possibility of life so far from the sun, 10 times farther from the sun than the Earth, has opened up our paradigm of where you might look for life.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The mission also gave scientists a closer look at tiny shepherd moons such as Pandora and Prometheus that keep Saturn\u2019s rings in line, and mysterious structures in the rings that may one day spawn new moons.<\/p>\n<p>To celebrate the mission\u2019s end, NASA has assembled Cassini\u2019s greatest hits into an ebook that\u2019s freely downloadable in formats ranging from PDF to Kindle and iBooks.<\/p>\n<h4>What lies ahead<\/h4>\n<p>Intentionally destroying Cassini might seem like a waste, but it\u2019s actually part of NASA\u2019s plan to make sure the probe has no chance of crashing on Titan or Enceladus. Scientists want to make sure those moons, which could conceivably harbor traces of alien life, remain uncontaminated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe must protect those bodies for future exploration,\u201d said Jim Green, director of NASA\u2019s Planetary Science Division.<\/p>\n<p>Throughout the mission, engineers have taken advantage of Titan flybys to adjust Cassini\u2019s orbit, and the last flyby&nbsp;\u2013 known as \u201cthe kiss goodbye\u201d&nbsp;\u2013 was executed on Monday, sealing the spacecraft\u2019s fate. Images from that flyby were released during Wednesday\u2019s briefing.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhat\u2019s going to happen on Friday is absolutely inevitable,\u201d Maize said.<\/p>\n<figure id=\"attachment_362315\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-362315\" style=\"width: 630px\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full-width wp-image-362315\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170913-titan-2-630x630.jpg\" alt=\"Titan image\" width=\"630\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170913-titan-2-630x630.jpg 630w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170913-titan-2-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170913-titan-2-100x100.jpg 100w, https:\/\/cdn.geekwire.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/170913-titan-2.jpg 720w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 630px) 100vw, 630px\"><figcaption data-nosnippet=\"\" id=\"caption-attachment-362315\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">This unprocessed image of Titan was taken by NASA\u2019s Cassini spacecraft on Monday during the mission\u2019s final, distant flyby, known as \u201cthe kiss goodbye.\u201d (NASA \/ JPL-Caltech \/ Space Science Institute)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>The probe will blaze through Saturn\u2019s thin upper atmosphere at a speed of 76,000 mph \u2013 a dive that will subject it to unsurvivable stresses. There\u2019s a slight chance that observatories in places like Australia, India, China and Taiwan will be able to spot the flash when Cassini is vaporized, Spilker said.<\/p>\n<p>It\u2019ll take another year for Cassini\u2019s science team to put all the data returned by Cassini into shape for NASA\u2019s archives, and the readings are likely to fuel scientific studies for decades to come. What\u2019s more, the observational techniques developed for Cassini are certain to be adapted for future missions.<\/p>\n<p>For example, NASA\u2019s Europa Clipper&nbsp;\u2013 a spacecraft that\u2019s due for launch in the 2020s&nbsp;\u2013 will study Europa, an icy moon of Jupiter, using the same multiple-flyby technique that was pioneered by Cassini for mapping Titan.<\/p>\n<p>So when will the next mission to the Saturnian system be added to NASA\u2019s to-do list? In response to a question, Green hinted that it might not be long.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe observations by Cassini have been so remarkable for Enceladus and Titan that indeed last year we announced the inclusion of those two objects in our focused science program called New Frontiers,\u201d Green said. \u201cThose proposals are in and currently under evaluation, and they do indeed include proposals to go back to Titan and Enceladus. So we\u2019ll look through this competition and see what happens.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>NASA TV will air live commentary on the end of the Cassini mission from 4 to 5:30 a.m. PT Friday, followed by a post-mission news conference at 6:30 a.m. PT.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>An artist\u2019s conception shows the Cassini orbiter zooming through the upper layers of Saturn\u2019s atmosphere, heading for a fiery breakup. (NASA \/ JPL-Caltech Illustration) Twenty years after its launch to Saturn, NASA has set the Cassini orbiter on a course for certain destruction on Friday \u2013 but there\u2019s a decidedly positive spin to the $3.3 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[2394,1559,190,4709,1562,2396],"class_list":["post-18806","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-news","tag-cassini","tag-enceladus","tag-nasa","tag-planets","tag-saturn","tag-titan"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18806"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18806"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18806\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18806"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18806"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/starpath.global\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18806"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}