Tonight, our team at Tidbinbilla will play a crucial role in
monitoring the final hours of the Cassini spacecraft as it plunges
into Saturn's atmosphere. Launched in October, 1997, Cassini reached
Saturn in mid-2004, carrying the European Huygens probe. (ATNF
telescopes participated in the global effort to track the Huygens
probe in January 2005 as it descended through the atmosphere of
Saturn's moon Titan to its surface.) Cassini's key discoveries have
included a global ocean with indications of hydrothermal activity
within Enceladus, and liquid methane seas on Titan. In 2010, Cassini
began a seven-year program to make many moon flybys while observing
seasonal changes on Saturn and Titan. In April 2017, Cassini was
placed on an impact course that unfolded over five months of daring
dives -- a series of 22 orbits that each pass between the planet and
its rings. Called the Grand Finale, this final phase of the mission
has brought observations of the planet and its rings from closer than
ever before. Tonight, the spacecraft will make its final approach to
Saturn, diving into the planet's atmosphere and sending science data
for as long as its thrusters can keep the spacecraft's antenna pointed
at Earth. Soon after, Cassini will burn up and disintegrate like a
meteor. (Image credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech)
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