NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Has Nearly Depleted the Fuel Reserves
While NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has been in operation for two decades now, it has nearly depleted its fuel reserves. Over half of that time has been spent taking readings from and exploring the space around Saturn, giving us a great insight into the ringed planet.
While NASA’s Cassini spacecraft has been in operation for two decades now, it has nearly depleted its fuel reserves. Over half of that time has been spent taking readings from and exploring the space around Saturn, giving us a great insight into the ringed planet. But as with all good things, the spacecraft’s mission must come to an end and that’s one event worth waiting for.
The way in which NASA intends to stop the mission is by making the spacecraft dive through the space between Saturn and its rings several times, before eventually crashing it into the planet itself (which is something NASA are quite good at, so no worries there). It should be quite a spectacular event which will begin on April 26th when NASA will send Cassini diving for the first time, bringing it closer than ever to the Saturn. This will happen another 21 times, each time sending valuable data and photos back to Earth.
After its last dive, Cassini will fly right into Saturn’s atmosphere where it will burn up and disintegrate. Even as the craft disintegrates, right up until its final last moments, it will stream back data for us to analyze down here on Earth. Cassini’s very final end of the mission is expected to occur on September 15 unless something drastic happens before then. So it’s time to say goodbye to good old Cassini, and thanks for all you’ve given us.
More News to Read
- An Iconic Bluetooth Speaker From NIMA
- Modern and Retro Intertwine with Penna – the Retro Bluetooth Keyboard
- Artificial Synapse Developed Directly On-Chip That Learns Autonomously
- Astronomers Discover Massive Galaxy Found Dead, But What Killed it?
- Is the Future of Helicopters in Bell’s New Concept Aircraft?
Related Coverage
- Cassini’s First Flight Through Saturn’s Rings Reveals Shocking Data
- Reaction Engines Gets One Step Closer To Orbit With SABRE Engines
- Scientists Discover Nearly 80 Exoplanet Candidates in NASA’s K2 Mission
- Nearly Half of All Medical Patients that Prescribed Medications Suffers From Serious Side Effects
- Capturing Solar Power in Space, Then Send it Down to Earth
Don't miss new tech stories on Google
Add TrendinTech once in the Google app and our stories appear in your news suggestions.
Owen Castellanos
Owen Castellanos is the Hardware & Gaming Reporter at TrendinTech, where he tests graphics cards, processors, consoles and peripherals and follows the games industry, from the major publishers to independent studios. He previously wrote reviews and benchmarks for Tom's Hardware and contributed features to PC Gamer, covering everything from laptop testing to the economics of game development. Owen holds a Bachelor of Science in Electrical Engineering from the University of Texas at Austin and attends CES in Las Vegas, Computex in Taipei and the Game Developers Conference in San Francisco each year to meet chipmakers and developers. He writes for readers who want to know whether a product is worth the money, and he is not shy about saying when it is not.
All stories by Owen Castellanos (252)