Blog #2

From our tour at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Lab in Pasadena there was a lot to take in from exciting missions in the works or ones that are just finishing. For the beginning of the tour they took us to the museum to give us a history lesson on NASA. From the museum we learned about the first mission into space to many more after that one. In one of the rooms they took us to where there was exact replicas of some of the space crafts that were launched. One that really got my attention was Cassini-Huygens also known as just Cassini. The creation process of Cassini first started in the 80s and was finally launched in October 15, 1997. When our tour guide was explaining this mission he had his own personal connection with Cassini and it made the spacecraft seem even more significant. To me I think it’s fascinating that Cassini was launched in 1997 and has been in space now for over 20 years all the while finding new observations along the way. 

The Cassini reached Saturn’s orbit on July 1, 2004 and in only a few short months it was able to be the first launch to successfully land in the outer part of our solar system. Cassani  landed on Saturn's moon, Titan, on January 15, 2005. This feat is astonishing since it was the only moon NASA has landed on apart from our own, and this day was the start of brand new discoveries. The mission's objective was to gather significant amounts of data regarding the three dimensional structure and behavior of Saturn’s rings, analyze Saturn's atmosphere, and collect historical information on the composition of satellite surfaces of objects in the atmosphere. The Cassini was able to complete all of its tasks by July of 2008 and was approved for an extension of its trip. This extension would allow 155 more rotations around the planet to analyze seasonal data of Saturn. Additionally, this extension allowed for a detailed analysis of the equinox between Saturn and the Sun that occurred in August 2009. Some of Cassini's critical discoveries include a global ocean with hydrothermal activity on its sixth largest moon known as “Enceladus”. Additionally TItan, Saturn’s largest moon, is found to have liquid methane seas on its surface.

In April of this year Cassani entered into the “Grand Finale” stage of its mission where it began performing “dives” between the planet Saturn and each of its rings. These dives are risky, but so far have been successful in bringing NASA closer to Saturn’s surface than ever before. However, this extensive 20 year journey is coming to an end on September 15, 2017 when the Cassini spacecraft will dive towards Saturn and collect and send back to Earth as much scientific data as possible until it burns up and disintegrates into the atmosphere. The completion of this journey lasted about my entire lifetime which is a showcase to how far science has progressed, but also how this is mission is just the tip of all the boundless information there is to learn about our solar system.