NASA's Cassini has sent its final signal from 1.4 billion km away

PanARMENIAN.Net - For the last thirteen years, Cassini has been orbiting Saturn, sending back extraordinary images and data from the ringed planet and its moons. But on Friday, September 15, Cassini sent its final signal from 1.4 billion km away. It'll take roughly 83 minutes to get to Earth, Engadget said.

Cassini will enter Saturn's atmosphere at about 1,190 miles above where the planet's cloud tops are thought to be. It will be traveling at approximately 70,000 miles per hour. The little spacecraft that will continue to transmit for as long as it possibly can, firing its control thrusters in short bursts as it enters the atmosphere. This will help keep its antenna pointed at Earth so Mission Control can collect as much data as possible. The thrusters will quickly ramp up power, going from 10 percent to 100 in less than a minute. Once the thrusters are maxed out, there will be nothing left for Cassini to do. It will no longer be able to maintain its stability and begin to tumble. NASA predicts that it will lose contact with Cassini at 7:55 AM ET, about 930 miles above Saturn's clouds.

Things will progress pretty quickly after that, though it won't be seen from Earth.

While telescopes will be pointed at Saturn to try and capture Cassini's last moments, it likely will be moving too fast (and is too small) for any images. Cassini will survive for about half a minute longer before the forces of Saturn's atmosphere begin to rip it apart as it burns up during descent. It will take just a few minutes for it to be completely destroyed.