• NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Ends Its Historic Exploration of Saturn

    From baalke@1:2320/100 to sci.space.news on Thu Oct 19 23:24:58 2017
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    https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6948

    NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Ends Its Historic Exploration of Saturn
    Jet Propulsion Laboratory
    September 15, 2017

    A thrilling epoch in the exploration of our solar system came to a close today, as NASA's Cassini spacecraft made a fateful plunge into the atmosphere of Saturn, ending its 13-year tour of the ringed planet.

    "This is the final chapter of an amazing mission, but it's also a new beginning," said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for NASA's
    Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. "Cassini's discovery of ocean worlds at Titan and Enceladus changed everything, shaking our views to the core about surprising places to search for potential
    life beyond Earth."

    On Sept. 15, 2017, Cassini plunged into Saturn, ending its 20-year mission
    of discovery. Scenes from mission control, TV commentary and the post-end-of-mission
    news briefing at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

    Telemetry received during the plunge indicates that, as expected, Cassini entered Saturn's atmosphere with its thrusters firing to maintain stability, as it sent back a unique final set of science observations. Loss of contact with the Cassini spacecraft occurred at 4:55 a.m. PDT (7:55 a.m. EDT),
    with the signal received by NASA's Deep Space Network antenna complex
    in Canberra, Australia.

    "It's a bittersweet, but fond, farewell to a mission that leaves behind
    an incredible wealth of discoveries that have changed our view of Saturn
    and our solar system, and will continue to shape future missions and research,"

    said Michael Watkins, director of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, which manages the Cassini mission for the agency.
    JPL also designed, developed and assembled the spacecraft.

    In its final hours, NASA's Cassini spacecraft returned these last looks
    at Saturn, its rings and moons, as it prepared to end its nearly 20-year voyage in space. This video includes the final image Cassini took, which
    shows the cloud tops where it would later plunge into the atmosphere.

    Cassini's plunge brings to a close a series of 22 weekly "Grand Finale"
    dives between Saturn and its rings, a feat never before attempted by any spacecraft.

    "The Cassini operations team did an absolutely stellar job guiding the spacecraft to its noble end," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager
    at JPL. "From designing the trajectory seven years ago, to navigating
    through the 22 nail-biting plunges between Saturn and its rings, this
    is a crack shot group of scientists and engineers that scripted a fitting
    end to a great mission. What a way to go. Truly a blaze of glory."

    As planned, data from eight of Cassini's science instruments was beamed
    back to Earth. Mission scientists will examine the spacecraft's final observations in the coming weeks for new insights about Saturn, including hints about the planet's formation and evolution, and processes occurring
    in its atmosphere.

    "Things never will be quite the same for those of us on the Cassini team
    now that the spacecraft is no longer flying," said Linda Spilker, Cassini project scientist at JPL. "But, we take comfort knowing that every time
    we look up at Saturn in the night sky, part of Cassini will be there,
    too."

    Go behind the scenes in a 360-degree view inside mission control to see
    as we await the FINAL signal and science data until the very last moment
    from our Cassini spacecraft. After nearly 20 years in space, NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn is at the end of its remarkable journey of exploration.

    Cassini launched in 1997 from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida
    and arrived at Saturn in 2004. NASA extended its mission twice - first
    for two years, and then for seven more. The second mission extension provided dozens of flybys of the planet's icy moons, using the spacecraft's remaining rocket propellant along the way. Cassini finished its tour of the Saturn system with its Grand Finale, capped by Friday's intentional plunge into
    the planet to ensure Saturn's moons - particularly Enceladus, with its subsurface ocean and signs of hydrothermal activity - remain pristine
    for future exploration.

    While the Cassini spacecraft is gone, its enormous collection of data
    about Saturn - the giant planet, its magnetosphere, rings and moons -
    will continue to yield new discoveries for decades to come.

    Engineers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California,
    awaited the final transmission from the Cassini spacecraft as it plunged
    into Saturn's atmosphere ending its 20-year voyage of discovery. \u203a

    "Cassini may be gone, but its scientific bounty will keep us occupied
    for many years," Spilker said. "We've only scratched the surface of what
    we can learn from the mountain of data it has sent back over its lifetime."

    An online toolkit with information and resources for Cassini's Grand Finale
    is available at:

    https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/grandfinale

    The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of Caltech
    in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate
    in Washington.

    News Media Contact
    Dwayne Brown / Laurie Cantillo
    NASA Headquarters, Washington
    202-358-1726 / 202-358-1077
    dwayne.c.brown@nasa.gov / laura.l.cantillo@nasa.gov

    Preston Dyches
    Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
    818-354-5011
    preston.dyches@jpl.nasa.gov

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