The probe will burn up in the atmosphere of Saturn.
NASA has published a video demonstrating what will be the last moments of the existence of the spacecraft Cassini.
This device will enter the atmosphere of Saturn is 15 September 2017, after 13 years of work and preparation of the unit for the maneuver began on April 26. About it project Manager Earl maze said at a special press conference.
The last phase of life of the device will be called the Grand Finale. The name chosen by the visitors of the website NASA.
On April 26, at noon in Kiev for the first time, Cassini probe passed between Saturn and the smallest of its rings. Such openings in the coming months will be 22. They will allow astronomers to look at Saturn and its satellites with new perspectives. At the end of the mission on 15 September 2017, Cassini is scheduled to immerse in the atmosphere of Saturn.
According to the astronomers, nuclear fuel of the spacecraft at the end, and ultimately, the fate of the Cassini sealed his own discoveries: scientists don’t want to risk sending a spacecraft to the moons Titan and Enceladus, which is possible the existence of life.
“Without fuel, its orbit will become less and less predictable. Cassini’s orbit will gradually change badly enough that, in the end, there is a risk to crash into one of the moons,” said one of the participants of the project Linda Spilker.
The video contains NASA’s Cassini key achievements such as the discovery of methane lakes on Titan and ice on Enceladus. At the end of the shown visualization the last mission of the unit.
Scientists hope to obtain new information from the dramatic ending of the mission. They hope to learn more about the composition of the atmosphere and rings of Saturn, and to figure out how big the planet’s core, and how fast it rotates. Cassini will also be able to get a photo of the strange hexagonal storm on the North pole of Saturn.
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