Tag: Cassini

Cassini readies final plunge into Saturn

by Jean-Louis Santini Agence France-Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) – The National Aeronautics Space Administration’s Cassini probe is counting its final hours before one last plunge into Saturn on Friday that will cap a fruitful 13-year mission that greatly expanded knowledge about the gas giant. While orbiting Saturn nearly 300 times, Cassini made major discoveries, such as the liquid methane seas of the planet’s giant moon Titan and the sprawling subsurface ocean of Enceladus, a […]

Saturn moon has necessary conditions to harbor life: NASA

by Jean-Louis SANTINI / Maggy DONALDSON Agence France Presse WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — An ice-encrusted moon orbiting Saturn appears to have the conditions necessary for life, NASA announced Thursday, unveiling new findings made by its unmanned Cassini spacecraft. Cassini has detected hydrogen molecules in vapor plumes emanating from cracks in the surface of Enceladus, a small ocean moon coated in a thick layer of ice, the US space agency said. The plumes have led […]

NASA spacecraft Cassini prepares for final mission

Reuters –National Aeronautics and Space Administration scientists gathered on Tuesday (April 4) to help usher in the final chapter of the spacecraft Cassini before it begins its “grand finale” on April 26 when it will descend to Saturn. The spacecraft, in orbit around Saturn since 2004, will make a series of dives through the 1,500-mile-wide (2,400-kilometer) gap between Saturn and its rings before crashing into the the solar system’s second largest planet. It will be the […]

NASA releases image of a half-lit Saturn

    Reuters – In the latest image released by NASA on Monday (April 4), ‘a half-lit’ Saturn sits askew as the planet’s moon Dione (698 miles or 1,123 kilometers across) looks on from lower left,’ Nasa said. The picture was taken using the Cassini spacecraft wide angle camera at a distance of approximately 1.2 million miles (1.9 million kilometers), NASA said. “The terminator, which separates night from day on Saturn, is also askew, owing […]