T126: a Moment of Silence, please……..
Posted: 19 Apr 2017, 17:50
…. for the grande finale of the greatest orbiting space probe mission to date.
On April 22nd Cassini/Huygens will pass near Titan for the last time, and this with a twist: This swingby will reduce Cassini’s velocity relative to Saturn and shift the current orbit from just outside the main rings to an orbit that passes just inside the (innermost) D-Ring, only a few thousand klicks above the clouds of Saturn.
Since Cassini’s fuelreserves are very low the probe will only be able to sustain this orbit for 22 times before the probe will find a fiery death in Saturn’s clouds.
20 years in space & 13 years in orbit the probes mechanical state is remarkably well, even though no pitstops @ local bodyshops were available.
Since the probe wasn’t sterilized before leaving earth the possibility of contamination of possible life on Titan or Enceladus exists, which means by Nasa-guidelines the probe has to be destroyed without harming those 2 celestial bodies. Hence the plunge into Saturn, even though 12 more months would have probably been possible.
So from now to September 15th we will see the 1st images of Saturn’s Rings taken from the inside out. I’m looking forward to these.
Originally planned for a 4 year orbital mission it has been twice extended,
and boy was it worth it, because Cassini/Huygens list of discoveries & firsts
is huge, among them:
1st landing of a probe on an outer solarsystem body (Huygens on Titan in 2005.
though only half the data was recorded because nobody considered the Doppler-effect & the resulting wavelength-shift)
Methane-based seas & oceans on Titan
cryovulcanism on Enceladus including free hydrogen in the plumes.[/i][/b]
(This means there is a possible energysource for methanebased organisms in the water-ocean under Enceladus’ icy crust)
really cool pix of a couple of the small shepard moons inside the rings.
enjoy a couple of the best Cassini-images (all pix © Nasa)
the “flying saucer” moon Atlas
Pan, looking like a walnut or a hat
the “earhart-propeller” inside a ring, caused by a moonlet
the “Herschel-crater” on Mimas
Enceladus plumes on the south pole.
pale blue dot
( look @ 17.30 o’clock inside the large outer blue ring & the fainter inner blue ring. that is earth)
https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/legacy/mult ... 004916.jpg
This image is too large for the boards tables, so please visit this link
for more info visit http://Saturn.jpl.nasa.gov
On April 22nd Cassini/Huygens will pass near Titan for the last time, and this with a twist: This swingby will reduce Cassini’s velocity relative to Saturn and shift the current orbit from just outside the main rings to an orbit that passes just inside the (innermost) D-Ring, only a few thousand klicks above the clouds of Saturn.
Since Cassini’s fuelreserves are very low the probe will only be able to sustain this orbit for 22 times before the probe will find a fiery death in Saturn’s clouds.
20 years in space & 13 years in orbit the probes mechanical state is remarkably well, even though no pitstops @ local bodyshops were available.
Since the probe wasn’t sterilized before leaving earth the possibility of contamination of possible life on Titan or Enceladus exists, which means by Nasa-guidelines the probe has to be destroyed without harming those 2 celestial bodies. Hence the plunge into Saturn, even though 12 more months would have probably been possible.
So from now to September 15th we will see the 1st images of Saturn’s Rings taken from the inside out. I’m looking forward to these.
Originally planned for a 4 year orbital mission it has been twice extended,
and boy was it worth it, because Cassini/Huygens list of discoveries & firsts
is huge, among them:
1st landing of a probe on an outer solarsystem body (Huygens on Titan in 2005.
though only half the data was recorded because nobody considered the Doppler-effect & the resulting wavelength-shift)
Methane-based seas & oceans on Titan
cryovulcanism on Enceladus including free hydrogen in the plumes.[/i][/b]
(This means there is a possible energysource for methanebased organisms in the water-ocean under Enceladus’ icy crust)
really cool pix of a couple of the small shepard moons inside the rings.
enjoy a couple of the best Cassini-images (all pix © Nasa)
the “flying saucer” moon Atlas
Pan, looking like a walnut or a hat
the “earhart-propeller” inside a ring, caused by a moonlet
the “Herschel-crater” on Mimas
Enceladus plumes on the south pole.
pale blue dot
( look @ 17.30 o’clock inside the large outer blue ring & the fainter inner blue ring. that is earth)
https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/legacy/mult ... 004916.jpg
This image is too large for the boards tables, so please visit this link
for more info visit http://Saturn.jpl.nasa.gov