Screw Nascar, Gimme NASA
At 9:36 PM Central Standard Time, the Cassini spacecraft began its final burn to enter orbit around Saturn. On its seven year journey it has travelled over 2.2 billion miles, and after several gravity assist accelerations around Venus (twice!), Earth and Jupiter, it reached Saturn at a Saturn-relative speed of over 54,270 miles per hour, after its 96 minute long burn, it was moving at a Saturn-relative speed of 68,293 miles per hour. Which is why I’m forced to say, “Fuck NASCAR, this is real speed.”
At 11:12 PM CST, the spacecraft had officially entered Saturn orbit after having safely passed through the ring plane, and the mission has now begun. From this point on, its all science, snapping pictures of moons, dropping its Huygens probe on Titan, and studying Saturn in detail.
Check out a few of these images in the JPL photo journal. If you have a fast connection, be sure to click on the full resolution links on the following pages to see incredibly detailed high resolution images.
- Ringworld Waiting – This picture is from the approach to Saturn, when the great gas giant had filled the camera’s field of view. In natural color, it is a peaceful and beautiful giant, never before seen in such detail.
- Phoebe Close-Up – On approach to Saturn, Cassini made a fly-by of Phoebe, a small dark moon of Saturn, one of the blackest objects in the solar system. Probably a captured comet, this icy rock is stark and looming in this detailed mosaic.
- A Guide to Saturn Orbit – This image is a diagram of the final burn and approach, which was just completed successfully about an hour ago.
For more pictures, which should begin streaming in over the next few days, keep an eye on the Cassini Homepage. The front page has news, and you can click the Multimedia and Images links to see the latest images coming in from the robotic spacecraft. The next ‘cross your fingers’ moment will come on Dec. 25th, 2004, when the Huygens probe will separate from the Cassini spacecraft, and begin a 21 day trip to Titan. Early in the morning on Jan. 14th, 2005, the probe will penetrate the thick atmosphere of Titan, and begin studying the mysterious surface. For a more detailed timeline of the Cassini mission, including over 74 Saturn orbits, and close fly-bys of all the major moons (and most of the minor), visit the operations timeline.
Thursday 01 Jul 2004 | Sam | Announcements
Recently, Laura, Lana and I went to Baton Rouge on vacation and stopped in at their art and science museum. While we were there we had to check out the planetarium show, which happened to be all about the Cassini mission. It was a very informative and entertaining presentation. After we left we were all quite excited about the images we would soon begin seeing, so thank you for the links. Vey cool stuff!
There are times like this that I think, even though we still have problems here on Earth, that we MUST continue our exploration of space. Even though it takes away money from good causes, it elevates the human spirit in a way that is hard to describe. Thanks for posting the links.
As for the orbital insertion speed, I’m sure your brother Brad has hit that driving down Lyons to the stop sign! Just kidding… sort of…
Rodney (Dad)
Any money NASA doesn’t get will probably go to the military, if most of the current government has its way. I don’t feel bad about spending a bit on space travel. Also, its gotten a lot cheaper now that manned missions aren’t the priority. You can send 10 robotic spacecraft for the cost of one manned spacecraft.
yo, how do i get to listen to the ringtones