Cassini's last year at Saturn

[sevenperforce]

What are the odds we just unintentionally seeded Saturn's atmosphere with vibrant bacterial life?

Not much is going to survive a 75,000 mph impact, but you never know...

[ThreePounds]

12 minutes ago, sevenperforce said:

What are the odds we just unintentionally seeded Saturn's atmosphere with vibrant bacterial life?

Not much is going to survive a 75,000 mph impact, but you never know...

Zero. Cassini is made from exactly the same elements that impact Saturn's atmosphere as meteoroids every day save for the Plutonium. Whatever curious and carefully engineered chemical structure those elements had before they were turned into plasma matters little to Saturn.

Edited September 15, 2017 by Three_Pounds

[KAL 9000]

Just now, Three_Pounds said:

Zero. Cassini is made from exactly the same elements that impact Saturn's atmosphere as meteoroids every day save for the Plutonium. Whatever curious and carefully engineered chemical structure those elements had before they were turned into superheated plasma matters little to Saturn.

Saturn's not a picky eater.

[iplayksp]

1 hour ago, sevenperforce said:

Still an hour out but Where's Cassini Now is already speaking of the mission end in past tense.

It is all over RIP CASSINI

[sevenperforce]

6 minutes ago, Three_Pounds said:

Zero. Cassini is made from exactly the same elements that impact Saturn's atmosphere as meteoroids every day save for the Plutonium. Whatever curious and carefully engineered chemical structure those elements had before they were turned into superheated plasma matters little to Saturn.

I'm gonna run out of likes.

How deep did they say the plutonium RTG would get before it melts?

[KAL 9000]

Saturn. Part of the final frontier. 

Those were the voyages of the space probe Cassini. 

Its 20-year mission: 

To explore strange new moons

To seek out new life, and conditions where life could arise 

To boldly go where three spacecraft have gone before!

[SuperFastJellyfish]

Thanks for everything, Cassini. o7

Edited September 15, 2017 by SuperFastJellyfish

[cubinator]

It was giving us science until it's dying breath. What a great mission!

[iplayksp]

54 minutes ago, Ultimate Steve said:

@sevenperforce If I have gotten things mixed up, I apologize, I looked at the first source I found and you're probably right.

T-1 minute.

*SALUTE*

It is all over RIP CASSINI

 

by the way thanks for saluting 

 

I’m going to go cry in the corner for a while now

[severedsolo]

I am really sad to see cassini go, this is the mission that really got me into space. I remember sitting at school with my best friend, researching it while we were waiting for it to arrive. It launched just before I started high school, and arrived just after I left. It's weird to think it's been up there my entire adult life and now it's just gone. Also makes me feel a bit bad, it's done alot more than I have with that time

Also if you are in the UK, Bbc2 are doing a horizon special on cassini at 9pm on Monday

Edited September 15, 2017 by severedsolo

[KAL 9000]

NOTHING MATTERS ANYMORE!

[Hannu2]

Cassini was very great scientific project. Thanks for NASA & cooperators. I hope that we will see more such huge and incredible successful projects in my lifetime.

I do not know what is this F thing but here is my official F.

F

[Felsmak]

9 minutes ago, Hannu2 said:

I do not know what is this F thing but here is my official F.

It's a meme referencing an action prompt in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. This prompt reads "Press F to pay respects", hence the F.

[cubinator]

18 minutes ago, KAL 9000 said:

NOTHING MATTERS ANYMORE!

Except it does.

We have to go back. BACK TO SATURN!

[ThreePounds]

22 minutes ago, cubinator said:

Except it does.

We have to go back. BACK TO SATURN!

Please! I want my robotic Enceladus submarine!

[sevenperforce]

1 hour ago, Three_Pounds said:

Please! I want my robotic Enceladus submarine!

Obligatory:

Spoiler

Also obligatory:

Spoiler

 

[Tw1]

 

I am sad to see it go

I remember as a kid, talking about Cassini and Huygens- I was in year 5 when it arrived. Here's an old school report, which I dug up for an event I put on with friends to mark it tonight.

 

Cassini was an awesome machine. It's been out there, bringing in news, and new images from Saturn most of my life. I'll miss the updates.

Had to mark the occasion, invited some friends over, and managed to find time to quickly make some models:

 

 

 

 

RIP Cassini. You leave a legacy of great science, beautiful images, and  a design which will no doubt continue to influence missions of the future.

Edited September 16, 2017 by Tw1

[Canopus]

Oh god i wish i had a 3D printer. I'm currently trying to build the same Paper model and all the tiny bits are driving me insane.

Its incredibly sad to see such long lasting missions come to an end. Must be very hard for the people who worked in it for 20 years.  I'm Looking forward to the Europa Clipper and the Juice mission now.

Edited September 15, 2017 by Canopus

[lajoswinkler]

4 hours ago, sevenperforce said:

What are the odds we just unintentionally seeded Saturn's atmosphere with vibrant bacterial life?

Not much is going to survive a 75,000 mph impact, but you never know...

Zero chance. Every part of the craft will turn to gas except maybe the iridium cladding and plutonium dioxide pellets. Even if it survived the entry, it would still melt and dissolve in the supercritical hydrogen-helium mix as it falls down.

During the entry every part of the craft will experience temperatures so high that even molecules can't exist anymore.

 

4 hours ago, Three_Pounds said:

Zero. Cassini is made from exactly the same elements that impact Saturn's atmosphere as meteoroids every day save for the Plutonium. Whatever curious and carefully engineered chemical structure those elements had before they were turned into plasma matters little to Saturn.

Plutonium is a natural element, too, but it's very rare.

Saturn does contain plutonium just like any other planetary body out there, but the amount Cassini added today is a lot higher. We can now say with basically 100% certainty that Saturn, as of this day, is a planetary body that contains the most plutonium after Earth (in terms of PuO2, Mars has a lot less in its Viking rovers and Pathfinder, and 4.8 kg in Curiosity, Jupiter has 15.6 kg from Galileo, the Moon has at least 19 kg).

Edited September 15, 2017 by lajoswinkler

[cubinator]

Nice report @Tw1! Wow, Pluto was still a planet...

[Tw1]

1 minute ago, cubinator said:

Nice report @Tw1! Wow, Pluto was still a planet...

Thanks! Only just though, the infamous ruling on Pluto was about a year away. 

Cassini has long been a favourite, I think I've ended up doing projects on it in highschool and university too.

 

 

1 hour ago, Canopus said:

 I'm currently trying to build the same Paper model and all the tiny bits are driving me insane.

I know right?
Due to a combination of limited time, a chance I might not get time on the 3d printer (through uni),  and ambition to have both done for my event, I rushed mine. Learnt a lot doing it, but it's a bit of a  mess up close.

 

Plus, it would have been better on thicker paper.

Do post photos if you're able to spend more time on it, and get it looking nice.

 

The 3d print wasn't without problems. Two parts needed a reprint, there was a slight warping, and some parts wouldn't line up. Still pretty cool thought, and solid enough to fly it around with my hand.

I do want to try my own kerbal version, but maybe later on. 

 

[monstah]

A nice post-mortem by Emily Lakdawalla:

http://www.planetary.org/blogs/emily-lakdawalla/2017/0915-cassini-the-dying-of-the-light.html

o7 SALUTE.

[StrandedonEarth]

*salute*

F

:hailprobe:

So long, and thanks for the hope that there's fish

Edited September 16, 2017 by StrandedonEarth

[NFUN]

F

 

;_;

[The Space Dino]

Rip Cassini. You have done lots of good for the human race.