Cassini to Begin Final Five Orbits Around SaturnNASA’s Cassini spacecraft will enter new terri
Cassini to Begin Final Five Orbits Around SaturnNASA’s Cassini spacecraft will enter new territory in its final mission phase, the Grand Finale, as it prepares to embark on a set of ultra-close passes through Saturn’s upper atmosphere with its final five orbits around the planet.Cassini will make the first of these five passes over Saturn at 12:22 a.m. EDT Monday, Aug. 14. The spacecraft’s point of closest approach to Saturn during these passes will be between about 1,010 and 1,060 miles (1,630 and 1,710 kilometers) above Saturn’s cloud tops.On Sept. 11, a distant encounter with Titan will serve as a gravitational version of a large pop-down maneuver, slowing Cassini’s orbit around Saturn and bending its path slightly to send the spacecraft toward its Sept. 15 plunge into the planet.Learn more at: nasa.govTo see the video click here: Cassini’s Grand Finale -- source link
#cassini#saturno#saturn#grandfinale#misson#missão#nasa#atmosphere#atmosfera#astronomy#astronomia#spacecraft