The Cassini spacecraft burned in the cloud cover of Saturn on the morning of September 15 after a 20-year journey through space. Confirmation of death came at 7:55 EST. The radio signals stopped abruptly, and the ship fell silent forever.
Cassini burned like a meteorite 83 minutes earlier, when he plunged into the atmosphere of the planet that he had been studying since 1997. But on the arrival of the news of the death took more time.
Saturn's rings, captured by Cassini on September 13, 2017. The device is configured for the final dive
This is the only ship established in the orbit of Saturn and the first to fly into the gaps between the rings. Last pictures arrived on Thursday.
At the time of death, the team hugged and said goodbye to the device. For this moment, more than 1,500 people gathered at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory who worked on the project at different times. The device crashed at a speed of 12,200 km / h.
Titan captured by Cassini on September 13, 2017
This moment was called the Great Finale, which was conceived after the exhaustion of the fuel tank. Scientists could not allow falling on satellites with the possible presence of life.
Cassini started in 1997 and studied the planet and its lunar group since 2004. During this time, the probe sent more than 453,000 images and traveled 4.9 billion miles. The project involved 27 countries.
Dione's transit in front of the gas giant in 2015. Transits are used to study the orbit and atmosphere
