Cassini Flies To A Fiery Death On Saturn.

This montage of images of Saturn's System was prepared from an assemblage of images

taken by the Voyager 1 Spacecraft during its Saturn encounter in November 1980.

This artist's view shows Dione in the forefront, Saturn rising behind,

Tethys and Mimas 

fading in the distance to the Right,

Enceladus and Rhea off Saturn's Rings 

to the Left, and Titan in its distant orbit at the top.

The Voyager Project is managed for NASA by The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.

Date: 17 November 1980.

Source: Great Images in NASA   Description

Author: NASA.

(Wikimedia Commons)

Cassini Flies Towards A Fiery Death On Saturn.

Available from The New York Times at

THE NEW YORK TIMES

The following Text is from THE NEW YORK TIMES.

The Cassini Spacecraft, that has orbited Saturn for the last thirteen years, would weigh 4,685 pounds on Earth and, at twenty-two feet high, is somewhat longer and wider than a small moving van tipped on its end. Bristling with cameras, antennas and other sensors, it is one of the most complex and sophisticated Spy Robots ever set loose in Interplanetary Space.

On Friday morning, 15 September 2017, the whole World will hear it die.

At The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, in California, the scientists of The Cassini Mission will figuratively ride their creation down into oblivion in the clouds of Saturn. They will be collecting data on the makeup of the Planet’s butterscotch clouds until the last bitter moment, when the Spacecraft succumbs to the heat and pressure of atmospheric entry and becomes a Meteor.

So will end a decades-long journey of discovery and wonder.