Cassini probe survives 1st dive between Saturn and its ringsApril 28, 2017 - 15:43 AMT PanARMENIAN.Net - NASA's Cassini probe has emerged unscathed after its first dive between Saturn and its rings, Engadget said. The spacecraft's ground team had to spend 20 hours wondering whether the probe was doing well or whether it plunged to its death a few months too early. Thankfully, it got back in contact with NASA at 2:56AM EDT on April 27th. By 3:01 AM, it started beaming back precious data about the planet's atmosphere. The probe flew 1,900 miles above the gas giant's clouds and around 200 miles away from the innermost rings, a region that has never been explored before. NASA wasn't even 100 percent sure whether the ring's particles in the region could hurt the spacecraft enough to cause its premature death. Since it was going to travel at speeds reaching 77,000 mph, the team chose to be careful and used Cassini's dish-shaped antenna as a shield to protect it. They had to turn the antenna away from the Earth to do that, so it couldn't beam back data until the probe was out of the 1,500-mile-wide gap. Cassini Project Manager Earl Maize said in a statement: "No spacecraft has ever been this close to Saturn before. We could only rely on predictions, based on our experience with Saturn's other rings, of what we thought this gap between the rings and Saturn would be like. I am delighted to report that Cassini shot through the gap just as we planned and has come out the other side in excellent shape." Before the Cassini probe plunges into Saturn's atmosphere on September 15th, it will perform the same dive 21 more times in the next few months. It's on a mission to gather as much data as possible, though the info it sends back from the first one will help NASA ensure it can survive until it's time for the probe to say goodbye. Photo: NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute Top stories Yerevan will host the 2024 edition of the World Congress On Information Technology (WCIT). Rustam Badasyan said due to the lack of such regulation, the state budget is deprived of VAT revenues. Krisp’s smart noise suppression tech silences ambient sounds and isolates your voice for calls. Gurgen Khachatryan claimed that the "illegalities have been taking place in 2020." Partner news Most popular in the section | The Power of One Dram to benefit Road of Life charity The companies inform that the May beneficiary of The Power of One Dram is the “Road of Life” charitable organization. Kazakhstan welcomes Yerevan, Baku’s agreement to meet in Almaty Kassym-Jomart Tokayev has welcomed the agreement of Baku and Yerevan to hold negotiations in Almaty. Armenia offers to temporarily host, preserve Gaza manuscripts The Armenian Foreign Minister has said Yerevan is ready to help preserve manuscripts from the conflict zone in Gaza. Aliyev says no need for mediators in Armenia-Azerbaijan process Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev believes that Baku and Yerevan do not mediators in the process of normalizing relations. |