A Farewell to Cassini

September 2017  :  Francine Jackson

Now that we are all reveling in the beauty of last month's total solar eclipse, we have another exquisite sight to prepare for, although this one, originally a total surprise, now will probably become one of the solar system's most vivid remembrances: the last gasp of the Cassini mission.

The beginning of this mission was, for many of us, one of those “I remember where I was” moments when the journey started. It was October 15^th, 1997 when it blasted off the Earth via a Titan IVB/Centaur for what seemed a forever time frame, flying by Venus twice, in April, 1998 and June of 1999, and then for an almost rendezvous (700 miles) with Earth, all for gravity assists to enable it to proceed to its destination a bit faster.

Some of us forget that Cassini neared Jupiter while the Galileo spacecraft was already there. Although it only came within 6 million miles of the planet, its flyby was useful in giving us additional information on our gigantic neighbor.

Cassini's first trial run at imaging Saturn came in late October, 2002, when it was still over 175 million miles away. It then zeroed in on two storms becoming one in April of 2004, discovered two tiny moons a month later, and then arrived to begin its many years of Saturnian orbiting in early summer.

By the end of the year, it had deployed its passenger Huygens lander, introducing us to the surface of Titan, a body so encompassed with atmosphere that it never previously had a chance to show us what it looked like.

And, now, it is time to wish Cassini a very fond good-bye. At first, the idea of virtually “throwing it away” by casting it into the very harshness of the planet it had served so well for such a long time was not something many of us thought was deserving of the great craft; however, now it is realized Cassini, by its planned ring crossings and eventual disintegration, will be still serving us, showing what will possibly never be seen again: Saturn as up close and personal as any body, robot or human, will ever view again.

On the morning of Friday, September 15^th, pause for a few moments and wish a fond farewell to one of the finest workhorses ever to leave the surface of our planet. Cassini, you've done great things for us, in introducing Saturn as never before. We'll never forget the beauty and information you have sent back for us. Thanks for all you've done to allow us to learn so much about this beautiful member of our neighborhood.