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Cassini's Space Odyssey To Saturn

Posted by samzenpus on from the mission-of-the-rings dept.

An anonymous reader writes in with this look at the amazingly successful Cassini mission and the discoveries it has made. Scientists says Cassini is helping them understand how our solar system developed. Of the astronomically profound discoveries it's made over a decade of circling, the startling hint this April of a new moon being formed in the rings of Saturn is merely the latest. Indeed, the spacecraft Cassini — which inserted itself into orbit around the giant gas planet in July, 2004 — has transmitted imagery and sensory data back to Earth that has given us a new understanding of our bejewelled neighbour three doors down. "It's one of the most successful (space) missions probably ever," says University of Toronto astrophysicist Hanno Rein, whose own work has been significantly informed by the tiny craft's output.

5 of 45 comments (clear)

  1. Fear Mongers Didn't Want to Let Cassini Fly by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Anybody remember all the whiners trying to stop the launch of Cassini because it's powered by plutonium?

    1. Re:Fear Mongers Didn't Want to Let Cassini Fly by rogoshen1 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Holy shit. reading the linked article:

      But critics disagree with NASA's calculations. "Give me a break. They're making these numbers up," says Michio Kaku, a professor of nuclear physics at the City University of New York, adding that by his calculations of NASA's own accident scenario, some 200,000 people could die if Cassini crashed in an urban area. "This is a science experiment, and we are the guinea pigs."

      I would not have expected him to have that kind of outlook.

    2. Re:Fear Mongers Didn't Want to Let Cassini Fly by arth1 · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Michio Kaku is very intelligent, but he's also an attention whore of the first order.
      Too often, that seems to trump reason and restraint.

  2. Big by Tablizer · · Score: 4, Interesting

    whose own work has been significantly informed by the tiny craft's output.

    Tiny? I saw a clone in a space museum. That sucker is almost as big as a bus.

    Anyhow, as a science mission, it has to rank up there almost with the Voyagers in terms of new and fascinating discoveries.

    --
    Table-ized A.I.
  3. Flagship Missions by mbone · · Score: 4, Informative

    Viking, Voyager, Galileo, Cassini - these were the so called "Flagship" missions - big, envelope-pushing missions intended to substantially advance our knowledge of the solar system. (MSL is really another, but Mars is special for NASA and so they don't call it that.) They have somewhat fallen out of favor, as they are very expensive and prone to delays and overruns, but it is hard to see how there can be substantial advances, particularly in the outer solar system, without them.

    The next mission of this class will, Congress willing, be the Europa-clipper, which is slowly getting to the AO stage. I can hardly wait.