Cassini is an orbiter that has been diligently exploring our Solar System for the last twenty years. A joint venture between NASA, ESA and ISA, Cassini was partnered with a lander named Huygens until it jettisoned to the moon of Saturn, Titan, in 2005.
For over a decade since then, Cassini has faithfully orbited Saturn, sending back some amazing images of our beautiful ringed planet neighbor. Sadly, Cassini is on it’s last legs:
Cassini continued to study the Saturn system in the following years, and continues to operate as of April 2017. However, due to the spacecraft’s dwindling fuel resources for further orbital corrections, it is currently planned to be destroyed by diving into the planet’s atmosphere in September 2017. – Wikipedia
Powered by a small nuclear power source, the orbiter is running out of juice after all those years in the cold vacuum of space. Here are some great images captured by Cassini over the last several years. Thanks to incredible engineering and design efforts, this orbiter has given us a huge amount of data about our solar system, planets, moons, and space in general. RIP, Cassini. Photos and info courtesy of NASA.
