NASA is preparing to bring an end to the Cassini mission this week, by plunging the spacecraft down to the surface of Saturn.
The death dive will mark the end of an incredible 13-year journey, which began in 1997, and has been one of the most ambitious space missions ever undertaken.
Affectionately known as the "grand finale", Cassini has been deliberately piloted through a series of 22 dives between Saturn's rings over the last few months. As well as flying between the rings it has dived down to 600km (1,000 miles) above Saturn's clouds. This allowed the space agency to gather data on the chemical makeup of the planet's atmosphere.
As well as monitoring Saturn, Cassini has also provided humankind with valuable information about its moons - most notably Titan and Enceladus.
Both are believed to have vast sub surface oceans that could, potentially, harbour alien life.
On September 15, NASA will send Cassini crashing into Saturn, in part to avoid any potential contamination of the moons.
"It's long been a goal in planetary exploration to send a dedicated probe into the atmosphere of Saturn, and we're laying the groundwork for future exploration with this first foray," said Linda Spilker, a Cassini project scientist at JPL last month.
Experts currently believe Saturn's upper-atmosphere is about 75% hydrogen. The rest is made up of helium with trace amounts of other gases.
Cassini will continue to send back data and pictures as it plunges into the planet, and research teams at NASA will pore over the data for weeks, months and likely years to come.
What's the story of Cassini?
Following the launch in 1997, Cassini spent seven years flying through the Solar System to get to Saturn. During this time it conducted two flybys of Earth, one of Venus and one of Jupiter.
The spacecraft is named after Giovanni Domenico Cassini, an Italian mathematician, and astronomer born in 1625, who was the first person to notice the division of the rings of Saturn in 1675.
The craft also released a small probe, Huygens, that landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005. It's the first time humans have landed a craft in the outer solar system. Read more...
The death dive will mark the end of an incredible 13-year journey, which began in 1997, and has been one of the most ambitious space missions ever undertaken.
Affectionately known as the "grand finale", Cassini has been deliberately piloted through a series of 22 dives between Saturn's rings over the last few months. As well as flying between the rings it has dived down to 600km (1,000 miles) above Saturn's clouds. This allowed the space agency to gather data on the chemical makeup of the planet's atmosphere.
As well as monitoring Saturn, Cassini has also provided humankind with valuable information about its moons - most notably Titan and Enceladus.
Both are believed to have vast sub surface oceans that could, potentially, harbour alien life.
On September 15, NASA will send Cassini crashing into Saturn, in part to avoid any potential contamination of the moons.
"It's long been a goal in planetary exploration to send a dedicated probe into the atmosphere of Saturn, and we're laying the groundwork for future exploration with this first foray," said Linda Spilker, a Cassini project scientist at JPL last month.
Experts currently believe Saturn's upper-atmosphere is about 75% hydrogen. The rest is made up of helium with trace amounts of other gases.
Cassini will continue to send back data and pictures as it plunges into the planet, and research teams at NASA will pore over the data for weeks, months and likely years to come.
What's the story of Cassini?
Following the launch in 1997, Cassini spent seven years flying through the Solar System to get to Saturn. During this time it conducted two flybys of Earth, one of Venus and one of Jupiter.
The spacecraft is named after Giovanni Domenico Cassini, an Italian mathematician, and astronomer born in 1625, who was the first person to notice the division of the rings of Saturn in 1675.
The craft also released a small probe, Huygens, that landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005. It's the first time humans have landed a craft in the outer solar system. Read more...