Cassini Spacecraft Will Have Its Final Mission And Death Dive Into Saturn In 2017

NASA's Cassini spacecraft was launched in 1997 and arrived at the Saturnian system in 2004. It aims to gather data about the ring planet Saturn. On the other hand, soon it will stop transmitting data to Earth as it will begin its final mission next September.

Jonathan Lunine, director of the Cornell University Center for Astrophysics and Planetary Science and a team member of Cassini mission, said that Cassini will be directed in its last six months into a series of orbits that go very close to Saturn's atmosphere. He further said that the spacecraft's orbit will be deflected by a final flyby of Titan, then, it enters Saturn's atmosphere and burns up.

So, why is the Cassini spacecraft will have such a fiery end? Lunine said that they do not want a derelict spacecraft flying around the Saturn system on the off chance that there might be microbes on the spacecraft. He described this as planetary protection. The team wants to make sure that Cassini is destroyed and think of this as the right thing to do, according to Huffington Post.

Cassini spacecraft had collected and transmitted massive data back to Earth about Saturn. These include liquid methane lakes and seas and evidence that Titan, Saturn's largest moon, has a giant internal ocean. According to NASA-Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Cassini spacecraft mapped Titan's surface and examined its atmospheric reaction. It found liquid seas there and even sent a probe to the moon's surface.

Cassini spacecraft is planned for a death dive into Saturn in 2017. Then, it will take many years to have another mission that will be sent to Titan to have more discoveries. Lunine and another scientist still hope for the future of space exploration. "As far as ensuring our own continued survival, we must do that by taking care of our home planet," Lunine said.