In just a few days , the Cassini mission will finish by jar with Saturn and the collision course has now been coiffe thanks to a concluding flyby of Titan , the doughnut-shaped colossus ’s big lunation , on September 11 .
This last distant encounter has been nickname a " bye osculation " by mission railroad engineer and was a necessary footfall for the commission . By flying at an ALT of 119,049 kilometers ( 73,974 miles ) above Titan the ballistic capsule bear a “ pop - down ” maneuver to take it on a low field than it has currently been on .
“ Cassini has been in a recollective - term relationship with Titan , with a novel tryst nearly every month for more than a decennary , ” Cassini Project Manager Earl Maize at NASA ’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory say in astatement . “ This terminal encounter is something of a semisweet so long , but as it has done throughout the mission , Titan ’s soberness is once again sending Cassini where we need it to go . ”
Over its 13 - yr military mission around the system , Cassini has orbit Titan 127 times , include the one when it deployed its associate lander Huygens , which give us the first open picture of the moon . Over the long time , it had studied its complex atmosphere , its seasonal change , and its lake of fluid methane .
Cassini is now in an orbit that will lead it into the marrow of Saturn . The probe will be destroyed to avoidpotential contaminationof the system from Earth ’s microorganisms that may have hitched a ride on the space vehicle . The blank space that scientist really do n’t want to contaminate is Enceladus .
in the beginning this year , researchers did confirm that beneath the shabu of Enceladus there ’s a warm sea withhydrothermal activity , and to avoid any potential danger of contamination the delegation directorate decide to have Cassini face a fiery destruction and get destroyed in the atmosphere of Saturn .
The analysis of Enceladus was potential by having Cassini flying through its plumage . A few weeks ago , the probe took its final video ofEnceladus ’ plumebeing ejected from the southerly magnetic pole of the frigid synodic month .
On Friday , September 15 , Cassini will take its swan dive into Saturn , the consummate conclusion for the mission’sGrand Finale . And while no Modern movie will be issue forth from the Saturn ’s organisation for many twelvemonth , scientists will be fussy . Not only is there still so much datum to analyze but inquiry teams are already remember of thenext bragging missionsto the planet .
