Cassini’s Grand Finale: Spacecraft Dives Into Saturn’s Rings; Google Doodle Pays Tribute

NASA's Cassini mission has forayed into a region where no spacecraft has ever ventured before -- between Saturn and its rings. The probe made the first of its 22 scheduled dives yesterday, on April 26. However, according to NASA, flight controllers will not get an update about how the dive fared until later today, when contact with Cassini is regained. Meanwhile, Google honored the Cassini probe with a Doodle for its "Grand Finale."

The animated Google Doodle showed a cute cartoon Cassini taking photos of a smiling Saturn while plunging through its rings. Incidentally, some of the best images captured by the mission is yet to come. NASA has stated that the images taken during the first dive are scheduled to become available no earlier than 3:30 a.m. EDT today.

The mission was out of radio contact with Earth as it plunged into Saturn’s rings on Wednesday. This is because the spacecraft’s big dish antenna was steered face forward to save the science instruments aboard from potentially destructive ring particles.

As Cassini moves nearer to the giant gaseous ringed planet over the next few months, the spacecraft will be able to take unprecedented close-up images. The mission will continue to send back photos of Saturn even as it dives into the atmosphere of the planet.

The mission will end with a fatal crash. The death dive that has been engineered to ensure that any Earth microbes on the spacecraft do not contaminate the Saturn system, especially its moons Enceladus and Titan that have been found to have the potential to support life.

"By plunging into this fascinating frontier, Cassini will help scientists learn more about the age, mass and origins of Saturn's rings, as well as the mysteries of the gas giant's interior," Google wrote in a statement. "Who knows what marvels this hardy explorer will reveal in the mission’s final chapter?"