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. 。
By signing up you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. 。
Thanks for signing up! 。
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 。
(责任编辑：焦點)
Old lady swatting at a cat ends up in Photoshop battleApple is testing a way to completely turn off location tracking in iOS
This is how colossal NASA's new Hubble Space Telescope successor isHugh Grant knocking on doors in the name of Brexit is giving us 'Love Actually' vibes
Darth Vader is back. Why do we still care?U.S. government issues warning on McDonald's recalled wearable devices
Last week's McDonald's debacle, which saw the fast food giant forced to recall its first wearable tr
...[详细]Amazon introduces a portable Echo speaker, but only in 1 country
If you want a smart speaker that can eavesdrop on the go, you're in luck. Amazon is launching a port
...[详细]Chromecasts aren't the best streaming gift for everyone
It's getting harder and harder to find people who don't at least occasionallyuse streaming services,
...[详细]Streaming service Quibi will launch with more than 175 new shows
At CES, the streaming service Quibi showed off its technology and some of its more than 175 new show
...[详细]Dog elected for third term as mayor of Minnesota town
Hopefully he has a human chief of staff.
。Duke the Great Pyrenees is the only dog that's ever been el
...[详细]Netflix may try to limit password sharing without making customers mad
Earlier this month, Netflix reported its third quarter results for 2019 and they make for positive r
...[详细]Lenovo's Smart Frame puts your digital photos on display without ruining your feng shui
While most smart displays are basically glorified photo frames, they're also not very practical look
...[详细]Breaking bad news is always tricky. Behold, the absolute worst ways to do it.
When I was 13 years old, my younger brother got hit by a car.It happened a street away from our home
...[详细]Pokémon Go is so big that it has its own VR porn parody now
Behind every great entertainment property there's a cheekily named porn parody. Super Hornio Bros. G
...[详细]Americans trust Google and Amazon more than Tom Hanks, report finds
Who could possibly be more trustworthy than Tom Hanks — America's most trusted man, aka Forest
...[详细]The Weeknd teases new music in Instagram post
Lizzo credits viral tweet for the most iconic line in 'Truth Hurts'
Its fiery death comes as no surprise. 。