HAPPY BIRTHDAY CASSINI
by Hazed
Last week we celebrated the one-Martian-year birthday of the Curiosity rover. This week we raise a glass to another space-faring craft that has reached a significant anniversary: Cassini.
It’s ten years since the Cassini spacecraft arrived in orbit around Saturn, having left Earth in October 1997 then visited Jupiter in 2000 before showing up at the ringed planet on July 1, 2004.
A few months later it released the Huygens probe which landed on Titan and sent back some spectacular footage of its descent and touchdown on the surface of Saturn’s largest moon.
Like many of NASA’s recent missions, Cassini has lasted a lot longer than intended. It was expected to operate for four years, but as the organisation says, the craft “has been remarkable trouble-free.”
The only thing that could stop it from carrying on indefinitely is that eventually it will run out of fuel, probably in late 2016 or early 2017. There are no gas stations in the vicinity of Saturn so once the fuel is gone, that’s it.
Cassini uses the fuel to boost itself into advantageous positions to view Saturn’s many moons. Mission planners are looking at tasking the craft with an end-of-life closer look at Saturn’s rings, which would be a spectacular way to go.
Source: http://www.theregister.co.uk/2014/07/01/cassini_celebrates_10_years_running_rings_around_saturn/
