“NASA’s Cassini spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn since 2004, is about to begin the final chapter of its remarkable story. On Wednesday, April 26, the spacecraft will make the first in a series of dives through the 1,500-mile-wide (2,400-kilometer) gap between Saturn and its rings as part of the mission’s grand finale. “No spacecraft has ever gone through the unique region that we’ll attempt to boldly cross 22 times,” said Thomas Zurbuchen, associate administrator for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington. “What we learn from Cassini’s daring final orbits will further our understanding of how giant planets, and planetary systems everywhere, form and evolve. This is truly discovery in action to the very end.”“
Related Content
Related Posts:
- NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Team Says Goodbye … for Now
- NASA’s Voyager 1 Resumes Sending Engineering Updates to Earth
- NASA Data Reveals Possible Reason Some Exoplanets Are Shrinking
- NASA’s 6-Pack of Mini-Satellites Ready for Their Moment in the Sun
- Webb Study Reveals Rocky Planets Can Form in Extreme Environments
- NASA’s Voyager Team Focuses on Software Patch, Thrusters
- Webb Detects Tiny Quartz Crystals in Clouds of Hot Gas Giant
- NASA’s Webb Captures an Ethereal View of NGC 346
- NASA Sets Coverage for Psyche Spacecraft Launch to Metal World
- Autonomous Systems Help NASA’s Perseverance Do More Science on Mars