
Cassini's “Grand Finale” Will Be a Blaze of Glory - okket
https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/cassinis-ldquo-grand-finale-rdquo-will-be-a-blaze-of-glory/
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hanklazard
I've read a few accounts of this mission's end and, not to be dramatic, but I
have actually been moved to tears by the thought of this probe using its last
energy to point it's antenna toward earth as it melts in the atmosphere. Yes,
it's just some hardware but it feels so poetic to me. This sort of
accomplishment gives me hope in our species--a true triumph of science that I
feel fortunate to have witnessed.

Also, for anyone who hasn't seen it, Cassini's Twitter feed has had a ton of
great content over the pat few years (@CassiniSaturn).

~~~
sandworm101
Wont happen so dramatically. By the time anything is melting the aero forces
will have far exceeded the probe's ability to point. It will start with a very
slow tumble, breaking contact. The spinning and destructive heating will come
some minutes (hours?) later. Of course, due to distance, by the time we see
the break in contact the probe will be gone, allowing the op's careful
language re timings to make it seem like everything will happen at once.

~~~
danvoell
I still think someone within this community could make this into a dramatic
short film.

~~~
mmustapic
There is one [https://vimeo.com/210782375](https://vimeo.com/210782375)

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Buttons840
That final paragraph about the members of the Cassini team having watching
their kids grow and have children of their own during the 30 years of the
mission kind of struck me. I wonder what things are like for them when their
mission comes to such a sudden end?

I suspect they'll have to spend some time analyzing the data, possibly months
(I'm not really sure how long), but then it's over. What do they do? Take a
long vacation and then pick up another project at NASA? Or have they been
working on multiple projects this whole time, and it will be more like a
developer shipping a new feature, you celebrate for a few minutes then move on
to the next priority?

~~~
mturmon
They will be working on designing, simulating, and building new missions to
the outer planets. It's really important to have a roadmap for long-term
exploration rather than doing one-shot missions, so you don't lose the
expertise. The National Academy of Science works on this roadmap, and NASA
generally follows it (see
[http://sites.nationalacademies.org/SSB/SSB_052297](http://sites.nationalacademies.org/SSB/SSB_052297),
in particular the Planetary Science survey from 2011).

It's a very exciting time for planetary science, especially regarding the
"Ocean Worlds" (those moons of Jupiter, Saturn, and Neptune that have liquid
water:
[https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?i...](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/infographics/infographic.view.php?id=11262)).

One of particular interest is Europa Clipper
([https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-
clipper/](https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/europa-clipper/)), although Europa
is a moon of Jupiter.

------
trey-jones
I was in 7th grade when Cassini launched, and I remember thinking, "Wow, cool!
That seems really interesting!". And then, "Holy Cow, 7 years before it gets
there?!".

And then I remember in 2004 hearing about its arrival, and remembering back to
7 years prior and getting excited again about learning new things about these
faraway places.

Finally, in 2017, I'm excited about what new information might be obtained
during the short dive into the atmosphere. It's been a good run!

~~~
KGIII
I know this meanders into off-topic, but I remember when we first put humans
on the moon. To have lived through all of these changes, and advances, has
been wonderful.

------
marak830
Despite all the negative news lately. . . Well constantly, I have to admit,
things like this give me hope.

I do hope it inspires the next generation (at least a couple), to see what we
did, realise where we have gone wrong, and push for more exploration.

------
Pigo
This is quite a tangent, but figured I'd mention to anyone who might be
interested that there's a pretty cool podcast recently from Radiolab about the
life and times of the Voyagers. It goes into some interesting details about
their exit from the solar system. [http://www.radiolab.org/story/sun-dont-
shine/](http://www.radiolab.org/story/sun-dont-shine/)

------
colechristensen
[https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/saturn-tour/where-is-
cas...](https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/saturn-tour/where-is-cassini-now/)

NASA's countdown with distance and updates

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retSava
For us on the hither side of the pond, "7:55 eastern time" means 13:55
Stockholm time. Since the US is so vast in all directions, "your" time
references always confuse me.

0 days, 21 hours, 42 minutes, and 10 seconds. That's when the world will end
(for Cassini).

~~~
wil421
It's not that different from Europe. You have Western, Central, Eastern Europe
times plus Moscow Time. We have Pacific, Mountain, Central, and Eastern.
Forgot Alaska time zone.

Belarus and Turkey don't change for daylight savings and neither does Arizona
here.

~~~
SomeStupidPoint
You also forgot Hawaii and possibly Guam -- I can never remember how their
time lines up.

The US has four "contiguous US" timezones, and two or three others for
peripheral things. Not counting stuff like Zulu or the various zones that dont
adjust for DST, so technically are distinct.

~~~
_JamesA_
Hawaii (UTC-10) and Guam (UTC+10) are separated by the international date
line.

------
speps
I see articles about Cassini's end, but they never clearly mention when the
final pictures will be revealed. Any pointers please?

~~~
gregwtmtno
This timeline has an entry for when the final pictures are expected to appear
online:

[http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-
lakdawalla/2017/0911-ca...](http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-
lakdawalla/2017/0911-cassini-eom-timeline.html)

~~~
2845197541
It can't take pictures in Jupiter's atmosphere?

~~~
gregwtmtno
The spacecraft is at Saturn. During its final time, it will not have the
transmission speed to send pictures, though it will send atmospheric
measurements until the very end.

------
hooloovoo_zoo
A pretty good summary video of Cassini's mission.
[https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/science/cassini-saturn-
na...](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/08/science/cassini-saturn-
nasa.html?mcubz=1)

------
dazmax
For another take on this, check out this funny twitter thread:
[https://twitter.com/Alex_Parker/status/907803594463891458](https://twitter.com/Alex_Parker/status/907803594463891458)

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wazoox
off-topic, but UTF-8 still isn't ready for prime time on this site obviously:
"crême brûlée" became "crme brle" :)

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legohead
Would rather they have it go through the rings and get some point blank photos
of the contents, if that's a possibility.

------
tinfoilman
I remeber them doing this with Galileo flown in to jupiter. Mixed sadness and
pure impressiveness. However there was some talk that it might have caused a
nuclear explosion on Jupiter as Galileo had 2 two radioisotope thermoelectric
generators. This explision then could have started a chain reaction as
jupiters contains high amounts of tritium and deuterium.

~~~
frikk
This would make for a fun scifi plot, from the perspective of Jupiter natives.
"These assholes from Earth dropped a nuke from orbit. They appear to be
preparing to do the same to our cousins on Saturn. What do we do now?"

~~~
godshatter
I was picturing a large number of classic flying saucers with domed tops
rising en masse from the surrounding clouds, pointing themselves towards
earth, and speeding away. I mean, we did just drop a bus on them.

------
manigandham
NASA released a fantastic dramatic video explaining the Cassini mission and
final stages, very inspirational to watch.

The Grand Finale:
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrGAQCq9BMU](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xrGAQCq9BMU)

