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A28 SCIENCE
Saturday 16 September 2017

Farewell Cassini: Saturn spacecraft makes fiery, final dive

By MARCIA DUNN this morning. It just couldn’t the wide division in Saturn’s
AP Aerospace Writer have been better,” said rings, and Holland’s Chris-
CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (AP) Maize. “Farewell, faithful tiaan Huygens, who spot-
— NASA’s Cassini space- explorer.” ted the first and biggest
craft disintegrated in the This Grand Finale, as NASA moon, Titan.
skies above Saturn on Fri- called it, came about as The latest count is 62
day in a final, fateful blaze Cassini’s fuel tank started moons, six of them found
of cosmic glory, following getting low after 13 years by the spacecraft Cassini.
a remarkable journey of 20 exploring the planet. Sci- There were some light-
years. entists wanted to prevent hearted touches during the
Confirmation of Cassini’s Cassini from crashing into morning. At one point in the
expected demise came Enceladus or Titan — and broadcast, NASA played
about 7:55 a.m. EDT. That’s contaminating those pris- a video clip of the Cassini
when radio signals from the tine worlds. And so in April, Virtual Singers, spacecraft
spacecraft — its last scien- Cassini was directed into team members who belted
tific gifts to Earth — came the previously unexplored out, “Tonight, tonight, we
to an abrupt halt. The radio gap between Saturn’s take the plunge tonight
waves went flat, and the cloud tops and the rings. ...” to the music from “West
spacecraft fell silent. Twenty-two times, Cas- Side Story.” Parties were
Cassini actually burned up sini entered the gap and planned for the teams
like a meteor 83 minutes came out again. The last throughout the weekend,
earlier as it dove through time was last week. complete with Cham-
Saturn’s atmosphere, be- Cassini departed Earth in pagne.
coming one with the giant This May 21, 2015 image made available by NASA shows 1997 and arrived at the Scientists are already ea-
gas planet it set out in 1997 Saturn’s moon Dione crossing the face of the gas giant, in a sixth planet from our sun in ger to go back and delve
to explore. But it took that phenomenon astronomers call a transit. Associated Press 2004. The hitchhiking Euro- into the wet, wild worlds of
long for the news to reach ible mission, an incredible congregated at nearby pean Huygens landed on Enceladus and Titan. Pro-
Earth a billion miles away. spacecraft and you’re all California Institute of Tech- big moon Titan in 2005. posals are under consider-
The only spacecraft to an incredible team,” Maize nology, which runs the lab Nothing from Earth has ation by NASA, but there’s
ever orbit Saturn, Cassini said. “I’m going to call this for NASA. landed farther. Three other nothing official yet. In the
showed us the planet, its the end of mission.” The spacecraft tumbled spacecraft previously flew meantime, NASA plans
rings and moons up close in Flight controllers wear- out of control while plum- past Saturn, but Cassini was sometime in the 2020s to
all their splendor. Perhaps ing matching purple shirts meting at more than 76,000 the only one to actually cir- send an orbiter and lander
most tantalizing, ocean stood and embraced and mph (122,000 kph). Project cle the planet. to Europa, a moon of Ju-
worlds were unveiled on shook hands. Project scien- officials invited ground tele- In all, Cassini collected piter believed to have a
the moons Enceladus and tist Linda Spilker also had scopes to look for Cassini’s more than 453,000 imag- global ocean that might
Titan, which could possibly a purple handkerchief to last-gasp flash, but weren’t es and traveled 4.9 billion be compatible for life.
harbor life. wipe away tears. hopeful it would be spot- miles. It was an internation- “These (water) worlds that
Dutiful to the end, the Cas- “It felt so much like losing a ted against the vast back- al endeavor, with 27 na- they found, we never knew
sini snapped its last photos friend,” she told reporters a drop of the solar system’s tions taking part. The final were there, are changing
Thursday and sampled Sat- couple of hours later. second largest planet. The price tag was $3.9 billion. how we think about life it-
urn’s atmosphere Friday More than 1,500 people, radio link actually held on European space officials self,” said NASA’s science
morning as it made its fi- many of them past and a half-minute longer than joined their U.S. colleagues mission director, Thomas
nal plunge. It was over in a present team members, expected. to bid Cassini farewell. Sev- Zurbuchen.
minute or two. had gathered at Califor- “There are times in this enteenth-century astrono- “And so for me, that’s why
Program manager Earl nia’s Jet Propulsion Labo- world when things just line mers supplied the space- it’s truly a civilization-scale
Maize made the official ratory for what was de- up, when everything is just craft names: Italy’s Giovan- mission, one that will stand
pronouncement: scribed as both a vigil and about perfect. A child’s ni Domenico Cassini, who out among other missions,
“This has been an incred- celebration. Even more laugh, a desert sunset and discovered four moons and anywhere.”q