Over the years, Cassini has given us stunning images of its voyage. Watch the epic crash into Saturn on Friday September 15 2017. Don't miss some of the final images and transmission from our beloved Cassini from its 20 year journey through our solar system to find its final resting place on Saturn.
Cassini–Huygens (/ˌkəˈsini ˈhɔɪˌɡəns/), or more commonly, Cassini is a Flagship-class unmanned robotic spacecraft which was planned, built, launched, and operated in collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency, and was sent to the planet Saturn.
Cassini is the fourth space probe to visit Saturn and the first to enter its orbit. It has studied the planet and its many natural satellites since arriving there in 2004.
Development of Cassini began in the 1980s. Its design includes a Saturn orbiter (Cassini) and a lander (Huygens) for the moon Titan. The two spacecraft are named after astronomers Giovanni Cassini and Christiaan Huygens. The spacecraft was launched on October 15, 1997, aboard a Titan IVB/Centaur and entered orbit around Saturn on July 1, 2004, after an interplanetary voyage that included flybys of Earth, Venus, and Jupiter. On December 25, 2004, Huygens separated from the orbiter, and it landed on Saturn's moon Titan on January 14, 2005. It successfully returned data to Earth, using the orbiter as a relay. This was the first landing ever accomplished in the outer Solar System and the first landing on a moon other than our own.
Cassini continued to study the Saturn system in the following years, and it continues to operate as of September 2017.
Due to a dwindling fuel supply, the spacecraft has entered the Grand Finale phase of its mission, where it will perform a number of risky passes through the gaps between Saturn and Saturn's inner rings. The purpose of this phase is to maximize Cassini's scientific outcome before the spacecraft is intentionally destroyed by letting it dive into Saturn's atmosphere. The planned deorbiting is necessary to mitigate the risk of the spacecraft eventually colliding with and contaminating one of Saturn's moons. The spacecraft's descent into Saturn's atmosphere is planned for September 15, 2017
On July 1, 2004, the spacecraft flew through the gap between the F and G rings and achieved orbit, after a seven-year voyage.[59] It is the first spacecraft to ever orbit Saturn.
The Saturn Orbital Insertion (SOI) maneuver performed by Cassini was complex, requiring the craft to orient its High-Gain Antenna away from Earth and along its flight path, to shield its instruments from particles in Saturn's rings. Once the craft crossed the ring plane, it had to rotate again to point its engine along its flight path, and then the engine fired to decelerate the craft by 622 meters per second[60] to allow Saturn to capture it. Cassini was captured by Saturn's gravity at around 8:54 pm Pacific Daylight Time on June 30, 2004. During the maneuver Cassini passed within 20,000 km (12,000 mi) of Saturn's cloud tops.
Although it is in Saturn orbit, departure from the Saturn system was evaluated in 2008 during end of mission planning.[61][clarification needed]
