Cassini observes Enceladus for the last time, on August 28, 2017. 12656 Share on Facebook. Much of Cassini will … Onscreen Report Save. 3 years ago. NASA plans to have Cassini come hurtling back to Earth in 1999 at 42,300 miles per hour for a "flyby" less than 500 miles overhead. Onscreen The reasons are twofold: First, scientists want to get every last byte of data out of Cassini before it’s lost to us. Though true that Cassini has a measly 61 of its original 6,565 pounds of propellant, this fuel is used only for reorienting its trajectory. “The only choice was to destroy it in some controlled fashion.”. : But the chosen solution is…, Buffington Buffington We cannot risk an inadvertent contact with that pristine body.”. This Friday, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft will execute its final maneuver, careening into Saturn’s atmosphere and melting without a trace. Parking Cassini in orbit creates a risk of someday colliding with Enceladus. NASA's Cassini probe. Additional funding for this program is provided by the Steve Perry Foundation. Cassini's life—to anthropomorphize it—was a life well-lived, one of meaning and purpose. To keep the lakes of Titan and the snows of Enceladus untouched by any earthly microbes, the spacecraft must be destroyed. Subscribe to ‘Here's the Deal,’ our politics newsletter. Image left: A montage of images from Voyager 1 shows some of the 31 moons of the Saturn system Image credit: NASA/JPL When considering such a complex, collaborative effort as the Cassini-Huygens mission, one might ask the question, "Why … The Cassini space probe was deliberately disposed of via a controlled fall into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15, 2017, ending its nearly two-decade-long mission. “Of course it’s really going to be hard to say goodbye to this plucky, capable little spacecraft that has returned all this great science,” said Cassini Project Scientist Linda Spilker at a NASA news conference in April. Spilker has been there for all of Cassini’s discoveries: from spotting how a hexagonal storm on Saturn’s north pole changes color with the seasons to providing insights into how Saturn’s rings formed. Cassini could even have still collected data, since all of its instruments run on power … Since then it’s been busy: 2.5 million commands executed, 4.9 billion miles traveled, 453,048 pictures taken and on September 15, 2017 Cassini was destroyed. The Secret Life of Scientists and Engineers. Fedor Kossakovski. Onscreen And for NASA's US$3.26 billion probe, that day is Friday, 15 September, 2017.. During a press conference held by the US space agency on April 4, researchers explained why they're killing off their cherished spacecraft with what they call the 'Grand Finale'.. So we want to definitively get rid of the spacecraft, and keep all of these environments that are pristine right now, pristine. In theory, the Cassini team could have used the last wisps of fuel to push the spacecraft into a stable orbit around Saturn. But if it doesn’t go well we’ve still met our engineering objective and that’s definitively disposing of our spacecraft. © 1996 - 2021 NewsHour Productions LLC. : The last thing we want to do is go back to Enceladus in 50 years and land on the surface and discover life, the biggest discovery in the history of mankind, but only to find out five years later, after more analysis, that it was in fact planted there by us because our dirty spacecraft with Earth microbes impacted Enceladus. National corporate funding for NOVA is provided by Draper. Analysis: Why Nasa's Cassini Probe Had to Be Destroyed Fedor Kossakovski, PBS By now, you've likely read a bit about NASA's Cassini probe plunging into Saturn to end its tour of duty this week. ET on September 15, 2017, NASA reports they received Cassini’s final transmission. Buffington NASA’s $US3.26-billion mission was ended to prevent contaminating salty oceans of Saturn’s moons — water that may harbour alien life. At the beginning of the Solstice Mission, on Nov. 2, 2010, Cassini ran into a problem when a malfunction in the spacecraft’s computer shut down all nonessential systems. NASA/JPL-Caltech. Why kill a multibillion-dollar spacecraft? : Cassini found a global ocean under the ice of one of Saturn’s moons, Enceladus. These highly reliable nuclear batteries produce heat through slow radioactive decay, which is converted to electricity by a device called a thermocouple. But these systems aren’t efficient. Major funding for NOVA is provided by the David H. Koch Fund for Science, the NOVA Science Trust, the Corporation for Public Broadcasting, and PBS viewers. Still, slamming radioactive material onto a potentially habitable world might not be the best idea. Scientists and engineers at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab, many of them with the 20-year mission since the very start, will work feverishly to keep their beloved spacecraft alive and sending back data for as long as possible. Researchers have found tardigrades, a microscopic aquatic animal, can live in outer space for at least 10 days. Perhaps a lonely existence, but an existence nonetheless. These new diseases killed roughly 90 percent of the Native American population. This method was chosen to prevent biological contamination of any of the moons of Saturn now thought to offer potentially habitable environments. Cassini is a radioactive spacecraft, powered by plutonium. : On the way Cassini executes 22 close orbits of Saturn, gathering data. Perhaps, but landing on Titan was considered a much more acceptable risk. Subscribe to Here’s the Deal, our politics newsletter for analysis you won’t find anywhere else. A version of this story appeared on Miles O’Brien Productions. For comparison, the atomic bomb that destroyed Nagasaki had less than 14 pounds of plutonium, though it was highly enriched. : Why get rid of a two billion dollar asset that's orbiting Saturn? Saturn's icy moon Enceladus sinks behind the planet in a farewell portrait from NASA's Cassini spacecraft, which destroyed itself by diving into the ringed giant on September 15, 2017. Two main parts made up the spacecraft—the Saturn orbiter (Cassini) and the Huygens probe. The world's most glorious monastery, at Monte Cassino in Italy, was destroyed during the second world war because of a mistake by a British junior … why was cassini destroyed. Cassini was sent to collect data about Saturn and its moons, whereas the Huygens probe was tasked to study the surface of Titan. Just think of the devastation suffered by Native Americans when Europeans brought smallpox and other germs to the New World. But all good things must come to an end. Cassini-Huygens mission, Saturn, Titan. Cassini is a contaminant risk for Saturn’s system and therefore must be destroyed. RTGs have no moving parts and, hence nothing to fix, which is perfect for a probe that’s 746 million miles from the nearest mechanic. Wouldn’t that be a contamination hazard? … Share. : #1 Crash into an uninhabitable rock. In spite of running low on fuel, why Cassini had to be destroyed? Onscreen So you can hit an icy satellite that's not a high value target from a habitability point of view, a big icy rock like Rhea or Iapetus or some of these moons. Though true that Cassini has a measly 61 of its original 6,565 pounds of propellant, this fuel is used only for reorienting its trajectory. On September 15, Cassini … Cassini has had a great run and it will continue to collect and send back data up until it is destroyed. Share on Twitter. Buffington Factors that influenced the mission end method included the amount of rocket fuel left, … Voyager, Pioneer, Cassini, the Curiosity rover — virtually every major mission exploring outer space — have used RTGs to generate power for their everyday activities. Fedor Kossakovski A Letter to the Cassini Mission, a Year After Its Grand Finale 1 / 10 Saturn's icy moon Enceladus sinks behind the planet in a farewell portrait from … Mission navigators re-designed the spacecraft's trajectory to bring it closer to Enceladus than had been previously planned. : The short answer is, we're almost out of fuel. So, considering Cassini’s scientific fruitfulness, why is the spacecraft being steered into a death spiral? Onscreen All Rights Reserved. level 1. No, the real reason Cassini must die is because of an international treaty with a rule to not contaminate potentially-habitable worlds. Saturn, too, possesses zero indications of life, and even if there were, the spacecraft and any hitchhiking microbes would be completely destroyed in the planet’s thick atmosphere. : This is to make sure that we don't pollute a pristine environment that could harbor life, with our own microbes that could be on our spacecraft. Bringing invasive species to an isolated ecosystem could prove disastrous. : You can hit something. On September 15, 2017 NASA destroyed Cassini—on purpose. Thank you. In the end, the spacecraft survived 30 seconds longer than was predicted. To keep the lakes of Titan and the snows of Enceladus untouched by any earthly microbes, the spacecraft must be destroyed. Cassini launched with 72 pounds of plutonium-238, which generated about the same amount of power as a microwave… a pretty weak one at that. Left: Saturn is not hospitable to life, and its atmosphere will destroy Cassini the way that Earth’s atmosphere destroys a meteorite. “Cassini has got to be put safely away,” Maize said at the April news conference, adamant. One oft-cited reason is that the Cassini spacecraft is running out of fuel. Illustration by NASA. The Cassini science teams were eager to get a closer look. Learn more about Friends of the NewsHour. One oft-cited reason is that the Cassini spacecraft is running out of fuel. Bacteria embedded in rocks survived a year-and-a-half long stint glued to the outside of the International Space Station. That will ensure that Cassini is totally destroyed. This composite was made from images taken when Cassini was about 18 … : In 1997 The Cassini-Huygens spacecraft launched from Cape Canaveral and headed to Saturn. “The harsh environment is expected to kill microorganisms that may have hitchhiked from Earth on board the clean space probe.”. For more than a decade, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft shared the wonders of Saturn and its family of icy moons—taking us to astounding worlds where methane rivers run to a methane sea and where jets of ice and gas are blasting material into space from a liquid water ocean that might harbor the ingredients for life. Please check your inbox to confirm. The spacecraft has given us an intimate view of a very fascinating alien planet. The Cassini spacecraft was destroyed at Saturn on Friday around 6:32 a.m. The extension allowed 155 orbits around Saturn, plus 54 flybys of Titan, 11 of Enceladus, two of Rhea, and three of Dione. "You don't just fly by once, you can follow-up when something seems promising." It could have been left to wander in Saturn's orbit, providing data until it eventually runs out of battery, the same way it has been done with other spacecrafts in different situations. Why not celebrate it? Analysis: Why NASA’s Cassini probe had to be destroyed Science. In theory, the Cassini team could have used the last wisps of fuel to push the spacecraft into a stable orbit around Saturn. The Voyager 1 spacecraft, 20 years Cassini’s senior, still coasts through interstellar space, beaming back data from beyond the bounds of the solar system. So, considering Cassini’s scientific fruitfulness, why is the spacecraft being steered into a death spiral? It took more than an hour for the probe's last signal to reach antennas on … Illustration by NASA/Jet Propulsion Laboratory-Caltech. But also before we run out of fuel, we have to adhere to what's called planetary protection. Update: At 7:55 a.m. Of all the planets in the Solar System, Saturn is perhaps the most elegant and mysterious. Fedor Kossakovski is a producer with Miles O’Brien Productions and a freelance science writer. Second, as discussed, one or more of Saturn’s moons might host life. Both locations carry some ingredients for life, with Enceladus showing greater potential. But what of Huygens, the European Space Agency probe, that Cassini released onto Titan in 2005? The risky maneuver was perfectly executed and the substance was proved to be water. It’s too great a risk to let Cassini possibly fall into the surface of … Saturn's pale colors and its rings come into view as Cassini approaches on May 7, 2004. Buffington Onscreen Perhaps most intriguing were Cassini’s discoveries off-planet, on Saturn’s moons, with the identification of methane seas on Titan and exposing the likelihood of a warm, saltwater ocean underneath Enceladus’ icy surface. Cassini could even have still collected data, since all of its instruments run on power from a different, much more long-lived source (more on that later). The Cassini spacecraft, which launched toward Saturn in 1997, is running low on fuel. Cassini could also unknowingly deposit tiny Earth passengers if it crashed into Enceladus. : And if it goes well, papers will be written on the scientific discoveries for many many years. Onscreen : Cassini’s destruction helps ensure that if we ever find life here, it’ll be native and not a tourist from Earth. The Cassini spacecraft was destroyed at Saturn on Friday around 8:32pm AEST. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/science/analysis-nasas-cassini-probe-must-destroyed, “Cassini’s own discoveries were its demise.”, a warm, saltwater ocean underneath Enceladus’ icy surface, push the spacecraft into a stable orbit around Saturn, not contaminate potentially-habitable worlds, about the same amount of power as a microwave, roughly 90 percent of the Native American population. : #2 Orbit Saturn indefinitely. And a couple of the moons have the possibility that there might be life on them. Because it is possible that sooner or later it would crash into one of the moons. Some scientists believe Enceladus contains the perfect conditions for life. ET. 4. : With one Titan flyby you can jump the entire ring system and put yourself in an orbit that actually impacts Saturn. Cassini revealed in great detail the true wonders of Saturn, a giant world ruled by raging storms and delicate harmonies of … To avoid accidentally crashing into and contaminating a nearby moon … Some microorganisms can survive the harsh vacuum of space. “Given the fact that Titan is too cold and that there is no liquid water for life as we know it to evolve, the risk of contamination is practically non-existing,” the European Space Agency stated. NASA's Cassini spacecraft broke up in Saturn's atmosphere this morning, bringing an end to its historic 13-year mission at the ringed planet that was marked by incredible discoveries. The only choice was to destroy it in any way through contamination Cassini ’ s last signal to antennas... 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