Sage-Tips

Why did we destroy Cassini?

NASA will destroy a $3.26 billion Saturn probe this summer to protect an alien water world. The Cassini spacecraft, which launched toward Saturn in 1997, is running low on fuel. To avoid accidentally crashing into and contaminating a nearby moon that may harbor alien life, NASA is going to destroy the robot.

When did Cassini spacecraft die?

Sept. 15, 2017
NASA’s Cassini spacecraft made its final approach to Saturn and dove into the planet’s atmosphere on Friday, Sept. 15, 2017. Loss of contact with the Cassini spacecraft took place on Sept. 15 at 7:55:46 a.m. EDT (4:55:46 a.m. PDT).

What happened to the Cassini?

On Sept. 15, 2017, the spacecraft made its final approach to the giant planet Saturn. This time, Cassini dived into the planet’s atmosphere, sending science data for as long as its small thrusters could keep the spacecraft’s antenna pointed at Earth. Soon after, Cassini burned up and disintegrated like a meteor.

What happens to Cassini at the end of it’s journey?

​On the final orbit, Cassini plunges into Saturn fighting to keep its antenna pointed at Earth as it transmits its farewell. In the skies of Saturn, the journey ends, as Cassini becomes part of the planet itself.

How long did the Cassini mission last?

The Cassini mission was meant to last three years in orbit around Saturn, and instead the spacecraft spent 13 years, 76 days, orbiting Saturn. It gave us wonders to the end.

What spacecraft crashed into Jupiter?

Galileo
Galileo changed the way we look at our solar system. When the spacecraft plunged into Jupiter’s crushing atmosphere on Sept. 21, 2003, it was being deliberately destroyed to protect one of its own discoveries—a possible ocean beneath the icy crust of the moon Europa.

WHO launched Cassini?

A joint endeavor of NASA, the European Space Agency, or ESA, and the Italian Space Agency, Cassini launched in 1997 along with ESA’s Huygens probe. The spacecraft contributed to studies of Jupiter for six months in 2000 before reaching its destination, Saturn, in 2004 and starting a string of flybys of Saturn’s moons.

Why did they create the Cassini program?

Cassini carried a passenger to the Saturn system, the European Huygens probe—the first human-made object to land on a world in the distant outer solar system. And so, to protect moons of Saturn that could have conditions suitable for life, Cassini was sent on a daring final mission that would seal its fate.