Slashdot Mirror
NASA's Cassini Probe Begins Its 'Grand Finale' Through Saturn's Atmosphere (space.com)
An anonymous reader quotes Space.com:
After orbiting Saturn for more than 13 years, NASA's Cassini spacecraft is getting ready to say goodbye. On Monday (August 14), Cassini made the first of five passes through Saturn's upper atmosphere, kicking off the last phase of the mission's "Grand Finale." After completing those five dives, Cassini will come back around again one last time, plunging into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15. This will be a suicide maneuver: Cassini will burn up in the ringed planet's thick air, turning into a meteor in the Saturn sky...
Cassini's radar will be able to look into the atmosphere and see features as small as 16 miles (25 km) wide, about 100 times smaller than what it could see from its usual orbital positions. The Grand Finale will include one final swing by Saturn's largest moon, Titan, on Sept. 11. Titan's gravity will slow Cassini's orbit around Saturn and bend its path to send the spacecraft toward its September 15 encounter with the planet... Cassini will keep sending back data on September 15 until it gets to an altitude where atmospheric density is about twice what it encountered during its final five passes, NASA officials said. At that point, mission controllers will lose contact with the probe because its thrusters won't be able to keep Cassini's antenna pointed toward Earth; there will simply be too much air to push against.
The second dip happens this weekend, and NASA has created a special web page tracking Cassini's current location for its final 28 days.
Cassini's radar will be able to look into the atmosphere and see features as small as 16 miles (25 km) wide, about 100 times smaller than what it could see from its usual orbital positions. The Grand Finale will include one final swing by Saturn's largest moon, Titan, on Sept. 11. Titan's gravity will slow Cassini's orbit around Saturn and bend its path to send the spacecraft toward its September 15 encounter with the planet... Cassini will keep sending back data on September 15 until it gets to an altitude where atmospheric density is about twice what it encountered during its final five passes, NASA officials said. At that point, mission controllers will lose contact with the probe because its thrusters won't be able to keep Cassini's antenna pointed toward Earth; there will simply be too much air to push against.
The second dip happens this weekend, and NASA has created a special web page tracking Cassini's current location for its final 28 days.
You're going to be modded into oblivion because you do not seem to have a grasp of what basic research entails. Basic research is performed in the hopes that there might be something useful that is discovered that can benefit humanity. That can include simply enriching our knowledge base. It could also be something more tangible that has vast economic benefits. Scientists, a priori, do not know what the outcome will be.
Moreover, it appears that you can't be bothered to actually use a decent search engine to answer your questions. You just assume that because you don't immediately know the answer that there isn't an answer that will satisfy you.
Here's just a brief list of what we've learned since launching the Cassini probe and other scientific instruments:
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/10/161005131031.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/06/160621115743.htm
Some of Saturn's moons, such as Dione and Enceladus, have sub-surface oceans that might contain life. This is may provide some partial answers as to how life started on Earth or if we are alone in the universe. Moreover, such lifeforms may be vastly different than the ones found here on Earth. There may be components of those lifeforms that could prove useful
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2016/07/160706115129.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/02/150227181333.htm
We've found potential traces of pre-biotic life conditions on Saturn's moon Titan.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2015/08/150805075742.htm
Scientists have a better understanding of the distribution of particles in the rings of Saturn. This model can be applied to other systems, where particles merge, colliding with slow velocities and break into small pieces colliding with large impact speeds. This finding may prove useful in non-space disciplines.
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/04/130430131525.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2013/02/130219163211.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/12/121203090031.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/09/120928085222.htm
https://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2012/06/120625150557.htm
We've come to better understand the physical processes either on or near Saturn and its moons. This may help us, in some way, in the future. At the very least, it provides a more complete picture of how other planets in our solar system behave.
Some of the findings may prove useful in an economic fashion. They may not. Either way, it's incredibly myopic to believe that certain types of basic research, including space-based research, is useless. Funding for it provides a means of training the next generation of scientists and engineers. Some of those people will move on to other fields and make breakthroughs that have a massive impact on society. Others will be high-wage earners that, combined, pay more in taxes than the original cost of the research programs.
In my case, I earned my Ph.D. in a lab that was heavily funded by the NSF, DOD, and NIH. Some of our research had no immediate practical applicability. Other endeavors were spun off into companies that were later sold. Additionally, all of my colleagues from my time in the lab now earn well into the $200-500k/yr range. We now pay far more in taxes each year than we received from grants to cover the cost of our salaries and tuition as Ph.D. students. Without the training that we received as students, we likely wouldn't be making nearly as much today.
Lastly, there are other benefits that come about from these space-based research projects. We learn to build better, more efficient rockets. We design more powerful instrumentation. We become more adept at exploring space and establishing a presence on other planets. All of these things will help us if and when we finally venture forth into space to establish temporary bases or full-on colonies.