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时间:2024-09-20 08:13:09 来源:网络整理编辑:探索
No one can ever say that Cassini went quietly into its good night.。 At about 7:55 a.m. ET on Friday,
No one can ever say that Cassini went quietly into its good night. 。
At about 7:55 a.m. ET on Friday, mission controllers on Earth got official word that the Cassini spacecraft -- a joint operation of NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency -- had burned up in Saturn's atmosphere, vaporizing in about one minute.。
SEE ALSO:Cassini says goodbye with its final photos from Saturn。"We have loss of signal," one of the mission managers said, as Cassini's final dispatch from Saturn ended.。
"We have loss of signal," one of the mission managers said, as Cassini's final dispatch from Saturn ended.。
Its fiery death comes as no surprise.。Via Giphy 。
Scientists have been planning to send Cassini into Saturn's atmosphere for some time. Instead of allowing Cassini to spin out of control, possibly impacting one of the planet's moons that could host life, mission controllers sent it on a collision course with the planet it spent more than a decade gazing upon for our benefit.。
The Cassini spacecraft launched in 1997. It has been exploring Saturn and its many moons since it arrived at the ringed planet in 2004.。
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In total, Cassini took more than 450,000 photos, orbited Saturn 294 times, and traveled 4.9 billion miles since launch. 。
And up until the end, Cassini was doing what it does best: Gathering and sending back invaluable data to eager researchers back on the planet that bore it.。
The spacecraft beamed back data to scientists on Earth up until the moment it started to break apart like a meteor in Saturn's atmosphere.。
One of the craft's instruments, the ion and neutral mass spectrometer, tasted the planet's atmosphere during its descent through it, relaying its findings to Earth as one of its last gasps of communication.。This kind of data could help scientists figure out how Saturn evolved, even though its mission is now over. We've never been able to sample Saturn's atmosphere directly before, so even in its death, Cassini is breaking new ground. 。
Artist's illustration of Cassini at Saturn.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech。
Artist's illustration of Cassini at Saturn.Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech 。
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