* Astronomy

Blobrana · L

RE: The Cassini spacecraft

Blobrana · L

Cassini Looks on as Solstice Arrives at Saturn

NASA's Cassini spacecraft still has a few months to go before it completes its mission in September, but the veteran Saturn explorer reaches a new milestone today. Saturn's solstice -- that is, the longest day of summer in the northern hemisphere and the shortest day of winter in the southern hemisphere -- arrives today for the planet and its moons. The Saturnian solstice occurs about every 15 Earth years as the planet and its entourage slowly orbit the sun, with the north and south hemispheres alternating their roles as the summer and winter poles.
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Oxford reflects fondly on Cassini as the end draws near

A spacecraft that scientists from the University of Oxford played a key role in building, has come closer to the planet of Saturn than ever before.
On Wednesday 26 April 2017, Cassini became the first spacecraft to ever plunge between Saturn and its innermost rings. In doing so, it came closer to the planet than any probe before it. This historic manoeuvre marks the beginning of the end, for what has been a landmark space mission.
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Blobrana · L

Cassini radio signal from Saturn picked up after dive

The Cassini spacecraft is sending data back to Earth after diving in between Saturn's rings and cloudtops.
The probe executed the daredevil manoeuvre on Wednesday - the first of 22 plunges planned over the next five months - while out of radio contact.
Nasa's 70m-wide Deep Space Network (DSN) antenna at Goldstone, California, managed to re-establish communications just after 08:00 on Thursday.
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Countdown to Cassini's Grand Finale

After nearly 13 years in orbit around Saturn, the international CassiniHuygens mission is about to begin its final chapter: the spacecraft will perform a series of daring dives between the planet and its rings, leading to a dramatic final plunge into Saturn's atmosphere on 15 September.
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Cassini Completes Final -- and Fateful -- Titan Flyby

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has had its last close brush with Saturn's hazy moon Titan and is now beginning its final set of 22 orbits around the ringed planet.
The spacecraft made its 127th and final close approach to Titan on April 21 at 11:08 p.m. PDT (2:08 a.m. EDT on April 22), passing at an altitude of about 979 kilometers above the moon's surface.
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Blobrana · L

NASA to Preview 'Grand Finale' of Cassini Saturn Mission

NASA will hold a news conference at 3 p.m. EDT Tuesday, April 4, at the agency's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, to preview the beginning of Cassini's final mission segment, known as the Grand Finale, which begins in late April. The briefing will air live on NASA Television and the agency's website.
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Catching Cassini's call

This week, ESA deep-space radio dishes on two continents are listening for signals from the international Cassini spacecraft, now on its final tour of Saturn.
ESA's sensitive tracking antennas at New Norcia, Western Australia, and Malargüe, Argentina, are being called in to help with crucial observations during Cassinis last months in orbit, dubbed the 'Grand Finale'.
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Blobrana · L

First photos from Cassini Saturn probe's new orbit

The Cassini spacecraft has sent back the first views from its new orbit around Saturn.
Last month, the Nasa probe began a new phase of its mission - one that involves making a series of daredevil manoeuvres over the next nine months.
The phase will end with Cassini being destroyed in the atmosphere of a planet it has been studying for 12 years.
The new photos show the hexagon-shaped storm in Saturn's northern hemisphere.
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Blobrana · L

Cassini Closes in on Enceladus, One Last Time

A thrilling chapter in the exploration of the solar system will soon conclude, as NASA's Saturn-orbiting Cassini spacecraft makes its final close flyby of the ocean-bearing moon Enceladus. Cassini is scheduled to fly past Enceladus at a distance of 4,999 kilometers on Saturday, Dec. 19, at 9:49 a.m. PST (12:49 p.m. EST).
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