NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Burns Up Over Saturn
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CAPE CANAVERAL (CBSMiami) -- NASA'S Cassini spacecraft met a fiery end - disintegrating in the skies above Saturn after a 20-year journey.
Confirmation of Cassini's expected demise came about 7:55 a.m. on Friday. That's when radio signals from the spacecraft — a final burst of scientific data — came to an abrupt halt. The radio waves went flat, and the spacecraft fell silent.
Right now at #Saturn: @CassiniSaturn's final dive is happening, with the last signal expected on Earth at 7:55am ET: https://t.co/B2zA7PS9Ao pic.twitter.com/1TWwMXQzzG
— NASA (@NASA) September 15, 2017
Cassini actually burned up like a meteor 83 minutes earlier, as it dove through Saturn's atmosphere, becoming one with the planet it set out in 1997 to explore. But it took that long for the last signal to arrive at Earth.
More than 1,500 people, many of them past and present team members, jammed JPL for what's described as both a vigil and celebration. Even more gathered at nearby California Institute of Technology.
Earth received @CassiniSaturn's final signal at 7:55am ET. Cassini is now part of the planet it studied. Thanks for the science #GrandFinale pic.twitter.com/YfSTeeqbz1
— NASA (@NASA) September 15, 2017
The only spacecraft to ever orbit Saturn, Cassini showed us the planet, its rings and moons up close in all their glory. Perhaps most tantalizing, ocean worlds were unveiled on the moons Enceladus and Titan, which could possibly harbor life.
Cassini snapped its "last memento photos" of the Saturn system Thursday. Ever dutiful to the end, it sampled Saturn's atmosphere Friday morning as it made its final, fateful plunge.
(© Copyright 2017 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)
