Where is cassini probe

The probe dropped through the atmosphere of Saturn's biggest moon, Titan, returning photos of a surface that had never before been seen by humans. Launched in October , Cassini picked up speed by using the gravity of other planets, swinging by Venus twice, then Earth, then Jupiter.

Cassini needed the gravitational assists to make it far out into the solar system. Cassini's life far exceeded the four years originally planned for its mission at Saturn. After arriving at Saturn in July , Cassini's mission sent back loads of data on Saturn until its mission ended with operators sending it on a deliberate plunge into Saturn's atmosphere in September When launched, Cassini was made up of two parts: the Cassini orbiter and the Huygens probe.

On the way to Saturn, Cassini searched for gravitational waves throughout the solar system and photographed any planets and moons that it passed. While Cassini was at Saturn, it collected an immense amount of measurements, including:. The Huygens probe, contributed by the European Space Agency, carried eight more experiments.

The probe was released from the main Cassini spacecraft on December 24, , and reached Titan on January 14, , where it dropped through the thick atmosphere to land on the surface. The Huygens experiments allowed the probe to:. During the missions of Cassini and Huygens, Cassini communicated with Earth using three microwave antennas. First to orbit Saturn. First landing in the outer solar system. First to sample an extraterrestrial ocean. Cassini expanded our understanding of the kinds of worlds where life might exist.

Cassini was, in a sense, a time machine. It revealed the processes that likely shaped the development of our solar system. What Cassini found at Saturn prompted scientists to rethink their understanding of the solar system.

Cassini represented a staggering achievement of human and technical complexity, finding innovative ways to use the spacecraft. Cassini revealed the beauty of Saturn, its rings and moons, inspiring our sense of wonder. I've been here ever since.

You don't have to be a genius to be successful. We fly spacecraft around other planets; how much better can it get? All will serve you well regardless of what you do. Before the mission ended, Cassini was an already powerful influence on future exploration. In revealing that Enceladus has essentially all the ingredients needed for life, the mission energized a pivot to the exploration of "ocean worlds" that has been sweeping planetary science over the past couple of decades.

Europa Clipper will make dozens of flybys of Jupiter's ocean moon to investigate its possible habitability, using an orbital tour design derived from the way Cassini explored Saturn. Farther out in the solar system, scientists have long had their eyes set on exploring Uranus and Neptune. So far, each of these worlds has been visited by only one brief spacecraft flyby Voyager 2, in and , respectively. Collectively, Uranus and Neptune are referred to as ice giant planets.

A variety of potential mission concepts are discussed in a recently completed study, delivered to NASA in preparation for the next Decadal Survey—including orbiters, flybys, and probes that would dive into Uranus' atmosphere to study its composition. Future missions to the ice giants might explore those worlds using an approach similar to Cassini's mission. Explore the full archive of raw images collected by the Cassini mission from to Illustrations, artwork and infographics that reveal the inner workings of the Cassini mission.

Cassini End-of-Mission Press Kit. Cassini Launch Press Kit. Planetary Data System search for Cassini for all available data. Missions Cassini. The Latest.

It not only acquired a wealth of data that led to numerous discoveries, but also raised a new generation of planetary scientists, including myself. I think making tons of money is overrated if you're not actively psyched about what you get to do all day.

And you can see exactly where Cassini went in, thanks to a series of images the probe took during its approach to the gas giant yesterday afternoon Sept. Some of these photos are in visible light, whereas others are in the infrared. The spacecraft burned up in a patch of Saturn sky at 9.

The location "was at this time on the night side of the planet but would rotate into daylight by the time Cassini made its final dive into Saturn's upper atmosphere, ending its remarkable year exploration of Saturn," NASA officials wrote in a description of the visible-light images. Why are there no images from today, during the plunge itself? The mission team prioritized other information, such as measurements of Saturn's atmospheric composition.