It's been a good 19 years, but now Cassini must die. This week, the NASA spacecraft will hurl itself into the atmosphere of the planet it's spent over a decade circling in search of solar system secrets hidden from human view until the orbiter arrived on the scene.
Cassini will enter Saturn's atmosphere on Friday for the first time, firing its thrusters until it gets tumbled around by the increasing density of the gas giant's outer layers. At that point the spacecraft, which is roughly the size and weight of a school bus, will likely lose its communications link with NASA and begin burning up.
The decision to destroy the probe has to do with protecting Saturn's fascinating moons from contamination. Thanks to the epic Cassini mission, we now know that some of those worlds hide liquid water and may have the potential to support life. We wouldn't want to mess with the first aliens we may find by leaving our out-of-control space junk careening around the neighborhood, especially Cassini with its onboard nuclear-powered generator.
"Cassini's grand finale is both exciting and bittersweet," Planetary Society CEO and famed "science guy" Bill Nye said in a statement. "Rest assured, the mission's science will carry on long after the spacecraft's farewell crash and end."
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