General / Off-Topic Cassini: The long goodbye...

[Mysturji]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-34017071

Next year, Cassini will begin a series of manoeuvres to put itself in orbits that take it high above, and through, Saturn's rings.

I have been hoping for, and looking forward to this since Cassini's launch.

 

[Patrick_68000]

I like this photo

 

[AluminumAlloy]

Is this the first time a probe will actually go INTO the rings of a ringed planet?

 

[Patrick_68000]

Is this the first time a probe will actually go INTO the rings of a ringed planet?

It is similar to a suicide mission, it seem to me

 

[Mysturji]

I like this photo

http://savepic.org/7667098.jpg

I like this one:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131113.html

 

[Zenith]

Is this the first time a probe will actually go INTO the rings of a ringed planet?

Cassini passed through the Cassini Division in Saturn's rings on 1 July 2004, but not through the rings themselves. Even the empty gap was registering over 680 dust impacts power second. Dust in this case is about as small as a dust particle in cigarette smoke. The probe wouldn't survive the rings themselves. At 20km/s, even a grain of sand would pack a huge punch. The rings are dust and ice that is probably larger than sand grain sized.

It is similar to a suicide mission, it seem to me

It us exactly a suicide mission. The death throes will be the pressure inside Saturn crushing Cassini.

 

[Patrick_68000]

I like this one:
http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap131113.html

I knew but always pleasant to see

 

[Surfinjo]

Given the insulting treatment meeter out to Poor, Hard Working Pluto, then demoting it to a mere dwarf planet, without even hearing its case, should we be thinking of similar treatment for the four bloated showoffs of the solar system?

May I propose we rename Jupiter, Saturn, Neptune and Uranus to gas anomalies?