A handout photo made available by NASA shows an illustration of the Cassini spacecraft about to make the first in a series of 22 dives through the 2,400 km gap between Saturn and its rings next week as part of its mission's grand finale. The spacecraft will then end its expedition on September 15, 2017, with a final plunge into the gas giant. Photo: EPA

NASA’s Cassini spacecraft goes into last dance of death with Saturn before dying in September

Associated Press

Published: 1:30am, 22 Apr 2017

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NASA’s Cassini spacecraft faces one last perilous adventure around Saturn.

Early Saturday, Cassini will swing past Saturn’s mega moon Titan.

“That last kiss goodbye,” as the project manager calls it, will put Cassini on a path no spacecraft has gone before — into the gap between Saturn and its rings. It’s treacherous territory. Even a speck from the rings could cripple Cassini, given its velocity.

This graphic illustrates how scientists on NASA's Cassini mission think water interacts with rock at the bottom of the ocean of Saturn's icy moon Enceladus, producing hydrogen gas. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Southwest Research Institute

Cassini will make its first pass through the relatively narrow gap Wednesday. Twenty-two transits are planned until September, when Cassini goes in and never comes out, vaporising in Saturn’s atmosphere.

A natural-color image of Saturn from space, the first in which Saturn, its moons and rings, and Earth, Venus and Mars, all are visible, is seen in this NASA handout taken from the Cassini spacecraft July 19, 2013 and released November 12, 2013. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Handout via Reuters

Launched in 1997, Cassini reached Saturn in 2004 and has been exploring it from orbit ever since. Cassini’s fuel tank is almost empty, so NASA has opted for a risky, but science-rich grand finale.

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