webfact Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 U.S. spacecraft shares first view from inside Saturn's rings By Irene Klotz REUTERS Saturn's atmosphere seen closer than ever before was captured by NASA's Cassini spacecraft during its first Grand Finale dive past the planet on April 26 and released on April 27, 2017. Courtesy NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Handout via REUTERS CAPE CANAVERAL, Fla. (Reuters) - NASA's Cassini spacecraft sent the closest-ever images of Saturn on Thursday after surviving its first plunge inside the planet's rings, the U.S. space agency said. A stream of pictures showing Saturn's swirling clouds, massive hurricane and odd six-sided vortex weather system were transmitted back to Earth by Cassini, which has been exploring Saturn for 13 years. Now in its final laps around Saturn, Cassini dove through the narrow gap between the planet and its innermost ring on Wednesday, where no spacecraft has ever gone before. It was the first of 22 planned close encounters to bring the robotic probe into unexplored territory between Saturn's cloud tops and its rings. "Cassini spacecraft has once again blazed a trail, showing us new wonders and demonstrating where our curiosity can take us if we dare," National Aeronautics and Space Administration planetary sciences chief Jim Green said in a statement. Cassini is expected to photograph several small inner moons and study the planet's winds, clouds, auroras and gravity. The information could help scientists find the source of Saturn's magnetic field, determine how fast the gas giant rotates and figure out what lies beneath its layers of clouds. NASA officials are not certain Cassini will survive all its ring dives. The gap between Saturn and the rings is about 1,500 miles (2,400 km) wide and likely littered with ice particles. Cassini is traveling through the gap at a relative speed of about some 77,000 mph (124,000 kph) so even small particles striking the spacecraft can be deadly. To protect itself, Cassini's dish-shaped communications antenna was temporarily repositioned to serve as a shield. The spacecraft will make similar maneuvers during its subsequent dives, the next of which is scheduled for Tuesday. On its final dive on Sept. 15, Cassini is slated to destroy itself by flying directly into Saturn's crushing atmosphere. During its first pass inside the rings, Cassini came within about 1,900 miles (3,000 km) from the top of Saturn's clouds and within 200 miles (300 km) of its innermost ring. Cassini has been probing Saturn, the sixth planet from the sun, and its entourage of 62 known moons since July 2004, but is running low on fuel. NASA plans to crash the spacecraft into Saturn to avoid any chance Cassini could someday collide with any ocean-bearing moons that have the potential to support indigenous microbial life. (Reporting by Irene Klotz; Editing by Letitia Stein and Jonathan Oatis) -- © Copyright Reuters 2017-04-28 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CharlieH Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 Childish and predictable comments removed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
55Jay Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 Fantastic stuff, love it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
klikster Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 Especially remarkable as this craft is pre '04 technology. Fantastic job, Cassini Team! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramen087 Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/ This will link you to the Cassini mission, including all photos... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
how241 Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 Great pics and amazing what can be done... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
55Jay Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 I know it's cheeky but..... with all this technology, "they" still avoid giving us photos of these guys. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GOLDBUGGY Posted April 28, 2017 Share Posted April 28, 2017 "Indigenous microbial life". Gosh! You just got to love the English Language to come up with expressions such as this which makes perfect sense. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mrwebb8825 Posted April 30, 2017 Share Posted April 30, 2017 Seems a shame that they want/need to crash it into Saturn. Would be cool if they could just land it and let it keep sending pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ramen087 Posted May 1, 2017 Share Posted May 1, 2017 18 hours ago, mrwebb8825 said: Seems a shame that they want/need to crash it into Saturn. Would be cool if they could just land it and let it keep sending pictures. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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