{"id":3167,"date":"2017-09-16T17:19:36","date_gmt":"2017-09-16T15:19:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.learning-by-gaming.net\/?p=3167"},"modified":"2017-09-16T17:19:36","modified_gmt":"2017-09-16T15:19:36","slug":"finding-of-the-week-235","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/blog.learning-by-gaming.net\/?p=3167","title":{"rendered":"Finding of the week #235"},"content":{"rendered":"

Cassini: A Grand Finale
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During my ongoing literature review I often discover interesting facts about things I\u2019ve never thought about. Sometimes I can connect these facts with my own observations: The result is mostly a completely new idea why things are as they are. Maybe these ideas are new to you, too. Therefore I\u2019ll share my new science based knowledge with you!<\/em><\/p>\n

This week: This time, I think about the end of the Cassini mission which analyzed Saturn for 13 years.<\/p>\n

Almost 20 years ago, on 15.10.1997, the Cassini<\/a> orbiter was launched from Cape Canaveral to begin its 7 year-long journey<\/a> to Saturn where it arrived on 01.07.2004. However, the Cassini orbiter was not alone on this long journey as it carried along the Huygens probe which was released on 24.12.2004 and subsequently began its three-week flight to Titan, Saturn’s largest moon, where it landed on 14.01.2005.<\/p>\n

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In Saturn’s Shadow – NASA\/JPL\/Space Science Institute, Feb 3, 2016.<\/p><\/div>\n

Since the successful orbit insertion<\/a>, Cassini completed 294 orbits around Saturn, took 453,084 images and collected 635 GB of data. Depending on the position of Saturn relative to the Earth, a one-way transmission travelling at the speed of light from Cassini took 67 to 85 minutes to reach Earth. Cassini also performed 162 moon flybys of which 127 where aimed at Titan and 23 at Enceladus.<\/p>\n

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So Far from Home – NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Space Science Institute, Sep 11, 2017.<\/p><\/div>\n

Unfortunately, after 13 years of orbiting Saturn, the Cassini orbiter was running low on fuel thus reaching the end of its lifetime. However, in order to keep Saturn’s moons pristine, Cassini was not just switched off which potentially could have resulted in the orbiter crashing into one of the moons. Instead, Cassini’s orbit was adjusted so that it intersected with Saturn’s atmosphere thus resulting in the spacecraft’s breakeup on 15.09.2017 marking the official end of the mission.<\/p>\n