Its key discoveries included the global ocean with indications of hydrothermal activity within Enceladus, and liquid methane seas on Titan.Īnd although the spacecraft may be gone, its enormous collection of data about Saturn-the giant planet itself, its magnetosphere, rings and moons-will continue to yield new discoveries for decades.
After its four-year prime mission, Cassini's tour was extended twice.
15, 1997, the mission entered orbit around Saturn on J(PDT), carrying the European Huygens probe. To its very end, Cassini was a mission of thrilling exploration. Soon after, Cassini burned up and disintegrated like a meteor. This time, Cassini dived into the planet's atmosphere, sending science data for as long as its small thrusters could keep the spacecraft's antenna pointed at Earth. 15, 2017, the spacecraft made its final approach to the giant planet Saturn. Called the Grand Finale, this final phase of the mission brought unparalleled observations of the planet and its rings from closer than ever before.
THE GRAND FINAL PRINT SERIES
In April 2017, Cassini was placed on an impact course that unfolded over five months of daring dives-a series of 22 orbits that each passed between the planet and its rings. The plan for this phase of the mission was to expend all of the spacecraft's propellant while exploring Saturn, ending with a plunge into the planet's atmosphere. Having expended almost every bit of the rocket propellant it carried to Saturn, operators deliberately plunged Cassini into the planet to ensure Saturn's moons remain pristine for future exploration-in particular, the ice-covered, ocean-bearing moon Enceladus, but also Titan, with its intriguing pre-biotic chemistry.īeginning in 2010, Cassini began a seven-year mission extension in which it completed many moon flybys while observing seasonal changes on Saturn and Titan. The Pirates have dropped 9 of 10.After two decades in space, NASA's Cassini spacecraft has ended its remarkable journey of exploration. Andrew McCutchen went 3 for 3 and hit his seventh home run of the season for Pittsburgh. Randal Grichuk added a run-scoring double as the Rockies earned their third straight series win. Alan Trejo had two hits and an RBI for Colorado. Less than 24 hours after homering twice in a 10-1 rout, Profar gave the Rockies their eighth win in 10 games by lacing a Robert Stephenson pitch into left field to score Austin Wynns. Jurickson Profar hit a tiebreaking RBI single in the top of the seventh inning to lift the Colorado Rockies past the host Pittsburgh Pirates, 4-3. The Dodgers scored seven runs in five innings off Milwaukee starter Wade Miley. He gave up a home run to William Contreras. Kershaw (6-2) struck out eight batters and walked none over seven innings. Will Smith and Miguel Vargas also went deep for the NL West-leading Dodgers (23-15), who top the NL in home runs with 64. Freddie Freeman homered and drove in three runs and Clayton Kershaw won his National League-best sixth game as the Los Angeles Dodgers beat the host Milwaukee Brewers, 8-1, to win the three-game series.
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