CASSINI- the final Misssion

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grober

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At around 10 o'clock this morning [ 5am EDT] the Cassini probe is scheduled to pass thro the gap between the rings of Saturn and the planet itself. During the manoeuvre its communication dish will act as a shield to protect the spacecraft from any particle damage it may encounter meaning that communications and data from this first pass may not be available till around 8.30am [ 3.30 am EDT]tomorrow if the probe survives.
https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/milestones/

Cassini is now entering the final phase of its mission with 22 sheduled close orbits of the planet before finally crashing into SATURNS Atmosphere on September 15 As I post this the probe travelling at 76,806mph is about to lose contact.

https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/cassini-completes-final-and-fateful-titan-flyby


cassini_gf_bythenumbers.jpg
 
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At that speed of over 76,806 mph I can't see it's shields offering any protection from debris its going to fly through. Astonishing though the length of its mission and how the scientists and engineers have designed and managed to keep in touch with it and get back data from so very far away. Mind boggling!

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Spectacular stuff.

My cousin Prof. Carl Murray said, on ITN, he felt he was going to be losing a friend on it's final mission on Sept 15.
 
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Yes, a great read after a large Boxing Day meal!
 
Here's a flavour of the Huygen's probe part of the mission from the European perspective.
ESA Television - Videos - 2005 - 01 - Huygens on Titan The Highlights So Far
It features John Zarnecki at one point, a scientist whose enthusiasm for space exploration was triggered when he got the day off school to see the first man in space Yuri Gagarin visit the tomb of Karl Marx in London's Highgate Cemetery.
Since 2013, Zarnecki has been a Director of the International Space Science Institute (Berne, Switzerland). Between 2004 and 2013 he was a Professor of Space Science (now Emeritus) at the Open University, having previously been a professor and researcher at the University of Kent. He was elected President of the Royal Astronomical Society until May of this year.
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Its possible CASSINI'S Voyage to Saturn may go down in history along with Darwin's Voyage of the Beagle and its true significance may only be really appreciated in generations to come.
 
Indeed a fascinating read. Nice choice of words near the end....

"On 15 September, Cassini will make a fateful dive into the planet's cloud tops.

It will be destroyed in the atmosphere, becoming a part of the planet it was designed to study."



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