NASA released a video of Cassini’s first dive in between Saturn and its rings.
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration released a new video of Cassini. The spacecraft is on a mission called the “Grand Finale”. It will see the space probe take one final dive and crash into Saturn.
The hour long video of Cassini gives the audience a look at the probe’s point of view as it takes its first dive. This was number one out of 22 between the rings of Saturn and the planet itself. During this initial phase of what will be the swan song for the Cassini probe, it captured images of the polar vortex on the planet’s north side. It also recorded a jet stream with a hexagonal shape in the surrounding area.
Cassini’s First Dive of its Swan Song
After nearly 20 years of service, Cassini embarked on its one last adventure. The orbiter was launched in October 1997 with the lander named Huygens. The project marked the collaborative effort between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian space agency.
Huygens separated from Cassini in December 2004 and headed for Titan, one of the moons of Saturn. This was the first landing of a man-made object in the outer reaches of the solar system. Cassini has continued to operate independently of Huygens for more than a decade.
Now that its fuel is running out, mission controllers have directed Cassini into the first dive of many that will eventually take the spacecraft directly into the atmosphere of Saturn. This is to avoid risking the biological contamination of a Saturnian moon that could occur if Cassini inadvertently landed on one of them. Both Titan and Enceladus may potentially be capable of supporting life forms of their own.Cassini will be periodically diving in the space between the atmosphere and rings of Saturn up until September. Then, it will take the final plunge that will send it hurtling into the planet’s atmosphere in one final blaze of glory.
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Michael Turner
Remember that strange guy from high-school who never seems to be paying any attention to classes and is completely absorbed by his doodles and sketches? That’s was me 14 years ago. I’ve been drawing for as long as I can remember - according to my mom, since I was in diapers - and that has never changed - except for the diaper part.
For a very long time I thought that animations and graphic design are my calling, but two years ago I got side-tracked and started building an interactive website with a couple of friends. It received instant gratification from fellow internet users, and that’s when I realized that the virtual medium is where I belong.
I can freely share my passions with others, work on ingenious new projects and find the most fascinating information about, well, everything. I spend most of my free time writing reviews for crazy gadgets on ArgyllFreePress, I work as an interactive designer for an independent firm and I also received my Fine Arts degree from the University of Oxford.
