Cassini: End of an era

[najaB]

A reminder to all fellow space cadets: for the last 13 years, 2 months and 10 days there been a little piece of humanity around Saturn. In a little over three days the Cassini probe will be part of Saturn's atmosphere, and the flow of science and beautiful images will end.

I'll be raising a glass to a job well done.

[youtube]gPdgsPTNhac[/youtube]

 

[Cowley]

I really enjoyed watching that. Inspiring stuff, thanks NajaB.

 

[507021]

I really enjoyed watching that. Inspiring stuff, thanks NajaB.

Me too.

 

[GusB]

I watched The Sky at Night the other day, and I have to admit that I hadn't realised that Cassini had been out there for so long.

To me, it doesn't seem that long ago that the Voyagers were travelling through the solar system, boldly going. I believe they're now both heading for interstellar space.

My glass is raised. (It's also only 25% full... top-up, anyone?)

 

[90sWereBetter]

I think we've still got another 10 years where we'll be in contact with the Voyager twins. Pretty incredible given we've long since lost contact with the Pioneer twins (and they were only launched a year or so before Voyager).

 

[DarloRich]

hopefully useful data can be transmitted during the "death plunge" into the atmosphere

 

[Howardh]

I watched The Sky at Night the other day, and I have to admit that I hadn't realised that Cassini had been out there for so long.

To me, it doesn't seem that long ago that the Voyagers were travelling through the solar system, boldly going. I believe they're now both heading for interstellar space.

My glass is raised. (It's also only 25% full... top-up, anyone?)

With today's tech, if we sent out more Voyagers could they overtake them?

 

[najaB]

With today's tech, if we sent out more Voyagers could they overtake them?

Technology has changed, but the basic laws of physics haven't. To catch up with the Voyagers a probe would have to be travelling faster than them and in the same (rough) direction. New Horizons is travelling faster, but in a different direction. I don't know of anything else in the planning stages that will achieve solar system escape velocity.

So yes, they could be overtaken, but it's not likely to happen in the lifetimes of most members of the forum.

 

[SS4]

With today's tech, if we sent out more Voyagers could they overtake them?

Sure but it would take a very long time. A spacecraft would need to travel at 142.7 km/s to reach Neptune in 1 year. For reference it took 7 years for Cassini to get to Saturn.