Cassini's 'Grand Finale'
Cassini's 'Grand Finale'
Because of ever-depleting fuel stocks on board the spacecraft, the end of mission for Cassini on 15 September 2017 became inevitable. If the spacecraft were left to uncontrollably spin around in the Saturn system, it could possibly one day hit one of Saturn's icy moons – for example Enceladus or Titan. Plunging Cassini into Saturn's atmosphere will avoid possible contamination of these moons, which could have conditions suitable for life, with microbial particles from Earth. To enter this final stage of the mission, Cassini's orbit was changed to one that entered between the inner rings and Saturn's cloud layers. On 15 September, after 22 more orbits since the start of the ‘Grand Finale’, the spacecraft will plunge into Saturn's atmosphere and burn up in a matter of minutes, even if at any point the spacecraft became uncontrollable.
