Discussion: Cassini enters Saturn orbit tonight

After 7 long years of travel, the Cassini probe will attempt to become the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn this evening at 10:30 PM EDT. The critial 96-minute orbit insertion burn must be perfect or it will either fly off into space or burn up in the atmosphere. This is assuming it survives the two ring-plane crossings it has to make as well without bumping into a pebble or an ice cube. Can you immagine getting hit by a slurpee going 25,000 kilometers per hour? I'm reminded of the Itchy and Scratchy episode where scratchy gets sawed in half on Saturn's rings and his legs burn up in the atmosphere. There is already a very cool movie showing the surface of the moon Titan as it rotates. These are the highest-res images ever taken of the surface, which is normally obscured by a thick atmosphere. Humans have never seen this stuff before! Its awesome. In December a lander will be dropped to the surface. Its designed to float, just in case it lands in a puddle of oily goo or something, and it has its own headlamp so it can look for controls. Keep an eye on www.jpl.nasa.gov for mission details this evening. Sorry about this nerdy post. 7 years is a long time to wait...

I thought that Saturn is a gaseous planet, so the lander will have to land on something like a cloud. Maybe the planet is so cold it is one big liquid hydrogen ocean for the probe to float in.

Oops, I just read that the lander is for Titan not Saturn.

For anyone up and watching at this time, fla today" has a near real-time journaling page from a reporter at JPL. The NASA TV webcast seems to be swamped right now. The engine should fire up in 30 mins or so. Actually, it should have already started, as the light travel time from Saturn is nearly 1.5 hrs. Interestingly, Cassini has 2 main engines - one is a backup. This is highly unusual for a non-manned space mission. The entire reason was redundancy for this very orbital insertion event. As Einstein proved in his lesser known "theory of economic relativity", mass=money, and engines are heavy, so a spare must have been deemed highly important for insurance reasons.

Spacecraft has survived the first plane crossing! Engine burn starts in 5 mins.

Engine burn has started. Doppler from the LGA indicates spacecraft deceleration. We're halfway there. 96 mins to MECO.

Main engine burn has completed sucessfully. Cassini is in orbit and functioning normally...just the second ring-plane crossing left to endure. Should be some awesome pics of closest approach released mid-day tomorrow (Thurs).

Tomorrow is the big day for the Huygen's probe through the atmosphere and to the surface off Saturn's moon Titan! Where will it land? Will it be a puddle of 10W-40 oily goo, or will it simply be a pile of dirty ice like you find on the side of the road during the SNOWGAINE? Its designed to be buyoant, so if it lands in a ocean of ethane it should float for a while. Will it even make it to the surface? Did the engineers mind their units? Will the chutes deploy after flying through space for 8 years? This is all brand-new stuff...the first landing on a moon of another planet. Things start happening at 5 AM EST Fri morning (Jan 14, 2004). The first data is due at Earf arround 11 AM and there will be a briefing on NASA TV at that time. ESA will present the first data at aroun 2:30 PM, again shown on NASA tv. Follow all the action here.

So... you're not going to Alabama, Eddie?

Radio telescopes have confirmed that the probe has landed on the surface. I presume that means they had the carrier signal for the entire descent, that it was on for the predicted length of time (i.e. not falling like a rock), and that it has now stopped descending. No word on whether they were still getting the carrier *after* the landing. First data should be received at ESA and JPL in an hour or so.

Headline appearing today in the "Titan National Enquirer".

ALIEN SPACESHIP CRASHED INTO MY GARDEN!

Re-entrants! ESA confirms...reentrants on Saturn's moon Titan. The first photo release is on cnn.com now. No scale given, but this was taken at some altitude about the surface.

pretty boulders there too. what are the odds against a Park Universe Tour Race by the end of the century?

Great stuff Eddie!!!

In America, at least, orienteers are clearly much nerdier than the general population. (I can say this with authority, since I definitely qualify!).

But for another take on the story, check this out :-)

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2...