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from nj.com
IT'S GOING TO BE a Saturnian summer.
The Cassini spacecraft has spent more than six years in space. After traveling more than 2.2 billion miles, it is about to achieve its goal: Saturn, the spectacular ringed planet.
Three spacecraft have visited Saturn. Pioneer 11 reached it in 1979, Voyager 1 in 1980 and Voyager 2 in 1981. These missions were relatively brief flybys of the planet. Cassini will be the first spacecraft to orbit and conduct an in-depth study of Saturn. Cassini's mission is similar to that of the spacecraft Galileo, which orbited and studied Jupiter from 1995 to 2003.
Cassini is one of the largest and most complex unmanned spacecraft ever built. It is 22 feet long and weighs 12,600 pounds. It will bring 18 scientific instruments to bear on the planet, its rings and moons. It will orbit 76 times during its four-year mission, which includes 52 flybys of its moons.
If all goes well, Cassini's main engines will fire at 10:36 p.m. on Wednesday night. The engines will burn for 96 minutes, sliding the spacecraft into orbit around the planet at 11:56 p.m. Just a few minutes later, at 12:03 a.m., it reaches its closest point to the planet, skimming just 12,400 miles above Saturn's cloud tops.
Stunning high-resolution images of Saturn will be streaming back to Earth all summer long. You can check on Cassini's progress and latest snapshots at: saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.
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