Cassini’s last Titan flyby

[nanila]

As many of you know, I work on the Cassini mission as an operations engineer and have done for over a decade.

Tomorrow is the spacecraft’s final close flyby (T126) of Saturn’s moon Titan.

Just to put this into perspective for you, this may be the last time in decades that we get anywhere near Titan. There are no missions to Saturn or its most interesting* moons, Titan and Enceladus, currently funded or being built. That means there’s a minimum of ten years before a new mission could be launched. Given that the transit time to Saturn is, at a minimum, seven years and on average more like ten, that’s two decades until we can repeat Cassini’s observations.

Cassini’s impending demise makes me sad, of course, but what bothers me even more is the lack of continuity in our exploration of our solar system.

You can read the details of tomorrow’s Cassini’s observations on the NASA-JPL press release here. It includes an animation of the flyby over the surface, from the perspective of the spacecraft.

* “most interesting” being ever so slightly subjective, of course

Comments

[miss_s_b]

this may be the last time in decades that we get anywhere near Titan

Poor old Rico Dredd is going to be stuck there for AGES then...

[nadriel]

So many +1 :P

[miss_s_b]

* feels all appreciated *

[sunflowerinrain]

It's so sad.

It's also infuriating. I have read opinions about the money being wasted on space exploration when it should be spent on healthcare, poverty, education, etc. and thought there is a point there (not one I agree with entirely, because any research can yield unexpectedly useful results even if you don't believe that humans need dreams and aspirations). And then where does the funding go instead? Bombs. Wars. Poisoning the planet. Jollies for rich people who could well pay for themselves.

But at least we have the beautiful and inspiring photos and data from Cassini et al. Thank you and everyone who work on it for that.

[miss_s_b]

SO much this.

[forests_of_fire]

It's also infuriating. (snip)

This. 1,000,000% this.

[pbristow]

[NODS] I believe you missed out a couple of zeros there. =:o\

[hunningham]

Yes. The money could be spent on eradicating poverty, but somehow never is. So we end up with poverty, and no science and no travel in space. Sad and cross-making

[nanila]

Exploration of the outer planets is "blue skies" research, for sure. But, as you say, it is quite easy to argue that paying for it is much more worthwhile than certain other human activities for which we pay far greater sums.

I'm very happy to have contributed, in my small way, to the achievements of Cassini.

[alatefeline]

<3 Thank you. I will read on, and support space science.

[nanila]

<3! I'm glad to hear it. :)

[quoththeravyn]

It's cool the JPL press release mentioned your somewhat esoteric instrument. :-)

And yeah, it takes so very long to do stuff in space. I remember colleagues going out for maternity/paternity leave. Those kids are now in college... Your wee ones will be grown before there's another Saturn visit. How... odd.

[nanila]

It's cool the JPL press release mentioned your somewhat esoteric instrument.

It is, isn't it? I was pleasantly surprised by that.

Your wee ones will be grown before there's another Saturn visit. How... odd.

Yes. And yet working on these long-time-scale missions also makes it seem not too far off. I'm still wrapping my head around the idea that it was over five years ago when JUICE was still entirely an unfunded paper mission.

[silveradept]

Given how much we all seem to be coming to the understanding of how much we need a backup pack in case Earth fails, I would think more space stuff is appropriate, not less.

But thank you for helping us learn more about the Sol system.

[nanila]

If Earth fails any time in the next two hundred years, we are stuffed as a species no matter how much space exploration we do in the interim. We have, at most, about 0.01% of the knowledge we need to survive without our planet.

[silveradept]

Indeed. And plenty of things that could exterminate us all long before we get to that point.

[hollymath]

I have way too many feels about Cassini for an ordinary person. <3

[nanila]

I don't think you are an ordinary person. <3

[hilarita]

Hopefully the exciting news last week about Enceladus means that we're getting a mission there fairly soon, even though that will still take twenty years... Space is Quite Big and it takes a long time to get there...

[nanila]

You won't believe how vastly hugely mind-bogglingly big it is!

[prophetsong]

Thanks for the link - my 9 year old is quite obsessed with Cassini and thought this was pretty much the coolest thing ever. The lack of continuity is really baffling and sad when there's so much more to find out.

[nanila]

Oh, I'm so glad it pleased your 9 year old! I do hope they saw the Google Doodle and the coverage of the first proximal orbit dive.

[siliconshaman]

I don't suppose there's any chance that someone might *ahem* 'make a mistake' and Cassini ends up in a Titan orbit instead?

[nanila]

Given that it's nuclear-powered and running out of fuel means the lack of ability to control the trajectory, it's both impossible and a really bad idea from a planetary protection POV. :(

[siliconshaman]

That's the bit I never quite got. I mean I understand the need to make sure it doesn't come crashing down on Titan, but surely it's possible to 'park' it in a stable orbit? Where it could keep observing.

OTOH, I can see how orbiting Titan would be made difficult by Saturn perturbing it rather.

But.. well, aren't we then just contaminating Saturn?

[nanila]

I'm pretty sure it can't be "parked" for long - it would need trajectory adjustments.

Yes, there's no getting round the fact that Cassini's crash will contaminate Saturn, but the ratio of radioactive isotopes to atmospheric particles on Saturn is negligible compared to what it would be on Titan.

[davidgillon]

Having some idea how difficult it is to truly 'park' something in the Earth-Moon system, my brain just went slightly boggle at the idea of doing it at Saturn. Sooo many gravitational inputs....

[nanila]

"That's a loooot of rocks"

[gwendraith]

I don't understand the lack of continuity either. I know it's expensive but it's also, imo, extremely important that we do continue to learn and explore. I've always been fascinated by space. I wrote to NASA when I was a teenager and they sent me stacks of literature and photos of the Gemini and earlier Apollo missions.

Thanks for the link.

[nanila]

You're welcome. NASA are really good at public outreach and have been for a long time.

[pbristow]

Aw... ={:o{

[LEANS OUT OF WINDOW] By-bye Titan!

[READS ARTICLE] It says they're using a magicometer to examine Titan's pointy hat! [BOUNCE, BOUNCE] We may soon have proof of the existence of Giant Space Wizards! =:o]

Any guesses what we'll get from the dives between Saturn's rings and the atmosphere? (Besides lots of really cool animations, obviously. =:o} )

[pbristow]

[SOMEWHERE IN THE HALLS OF GOVERNMENTSVILLE, A REPORT IS BEING READ...]

"What the...? Lizards! We told them to look for giant space *lizards*!!!"

=:o}

[nanila]

Any guesses what we'll get from the dives between Saturn's rings and the atmosphere?

Hopefully some better information about Saturn's interior, particularly the core. Also, nailing down how long a day is on Saturn would be quite nice.

[pbristow]

"Also, nailing down how long a day is on Saturn would be quite nice."

I'm guessing "too long to have to put up with *this* kind of weather!". =:o}

My mind goes bendy trying to even vaguely conjecture what the dynamics of an atmosphere way deeper than the radius of the solid thingie that's spinning inside it would be like, or even if the spinning thingie would even be a relevant factor in the behaviour of the upper (visible to us) layers of atmosphere at all. (But fortunately, no one's relying on me to figure it out!)

[pheloniusfriar]

Definitely a bitter sweet time, but it is also an exciting time where a wealth of data will be gathered in these final months. There will be years of analysis coming out of it as well to remember Cassini by. Amazing stuff! The "dry years" are going to be tough to take though, I agree.

[nanila]

...it is also an exciting time where a wealth of data will be gathered in these final months.

Oh yeah. You don't have to remind me. :P I'm one of the people who has to make sure that data keeps coming in and looks right.

[pbristow]

"Psst... Wanna buy a large crate of hard drives at pre-Brexit prices?" =;o}

[mortician]

I wish governments spent more on space programs!

[nanila]

Likewise (perhaps obviously). I also wish they spent more on eradicating poverty.

[haggis]

Not really relevant but I deeply love your usericon for this post.

[nanila]

Totally relevant! :D I've had it for ages. I can no longer remember where I got it, although I do know I asked permission to use it.

[mysterysquid]

Bloody hells, when you lay out the timeline like that, it's a hell of a long wait.

[nanila]

It is. I think a lot of people assume that once you've built a robotic spacecraft once, it's quite easy to bung one together for another mission, not realising that the whole engineering parameter space shifts as soon as you change anything (e.g. target body, instrument suite, mission duration, science objectives, etc). So if you want to do it properly, it's a redesign from the ground up pretty much every time.

[mysterysquid]

Even the technological changes would require a complete rethink every time, I imagine.

[ljravengirl]

I did not know this about you. I haz excites. I knew you were freakin' smart. *snort*
I have an LJ/FB friend who works at NASA in Houston.

I just saw the Google Doodle for April 26th, too.

[nanila]

The Google Doodle is/was adorable. :D I hope you saw some coverage of the first proximal orbit dive (which is what it was animating)?

[askygoneonfire]

Did you see this already? http://www.webtoons.com/en/challenge/microcosm/enceladus/viewer?title_no=9435&episode_no=77 And the Google Doodle today!

It must be so frustrating to know that a lot of knowledge and time is inevitably lost when, as you say, there is no continuity in the exploration missions planned and in progress.

Hope there is some sort of righteous champagne-popping, nibble-eating event to celebrate and toast the mission's conclusion.

[nanila]

I hadn't seen the Enceladus cartoon. Oh dear. This is why we shouldn't anthropomorphise spacecraft (but it's so hard not to...).

I loved the Google Doodle.

Oh, there will be more than one righteous champagne-popping nibble-eating event to celebrate the end of mission. :D