Part 3: THEORIES OF THE UNIVERSE

          Saturn as we know it is one of the most beautiful planets to see visually. A spectacular scenery that could be drawn by every child in their own way had it been close to us. Since it wasnt close to us we sent our satellite to go check the planet. It joined Saturn as a companion for quite a while. It was a man made satellite though. The Cassini . This satellite was sent to study about the planet Saturn and its rings and its moons.

THEORY 3: The Cassini sacrifice.

       

    Cassini is a very special satellite. You might have come across this name in one of the newspaper columns but would have ignored it and gone back to reading about politics and the stock market. But if you have a little knowledge about this satellite you might as well relate it to the planet Saturn.

        Saturn is the sixth planet in our solar system. Saturn is 9.5 astronomical units away from the sun which is 1.4901 billion kilometres in simple terms. Saturn is the second largest planet in our solar system but it is still the lightest planet in the solar system. Surprised? So was I when I came to know this but Saturn is such a planet that if we got an ocean of water big enough to fit it. It would actually float!! Saturn is about ten earths wide. The outside of the planet is gaseous and has no true surface but at the centre it has a dense core made out of water, ice and rocky material. The planet has a golden colour because the planet contains yellow ammonia crystals, gas and liquids that swirl around the planet creating golden clouds and storms. The largest storm of the planet is on its north pole. Its about two earths wide. Saturn has over 50 confirmed natural satellites or moons. You would get more references to titan further in the post. Saturn has one feature for which we all know it. Its magnificient and marvellous rings!

      Saturn is a beautiful planet. But do you know how we got so much knowledge about this gas giant. The satellite which I told you about at the beginning lines cassini is the reason. Cassini was a collaboration between NASA, the European space agency(ESA) and Italian space agency(ASI) to send a space probe to study the planet Saturn, its ring and its moons. But with the cassini went another special probe. The Huygens lander. Remember my mention of titan which is one of saturns 50 moons. Here is the reason- the Huygens lander landed on titan. So altogether the mission was named as cassini-huygens space research mission! The names origins were simply taken by the astronomers – Giovanni cassini and Christiaan Huygens.

the great titan 4☝

     On October 15^th 1997 these two probes were packed in and dispatched on the great Titan4. This is not the moon, the rocket on which it was launched was named titan4. The moon is still very far. So then the rocket was launched at the cape Canaveral SLC-40. It used the sling shot effect which is basically using a planets gravity to increase the velocity and cover a large distance in a shorter time. The cassini at first had to initiate a flyby of venus to increase velocity and had to do a second flyby of venus and then it would use a final push from the earth and be slung out towards Jupiter. After that it used 1 final sling shot towards Saturn. After 7 years in 2004 the cassini reached Saturn. On June 30^th 2004 it initiated orbit insertion successfully. On January 14^th the Huygens probe which was carried by it was released and landed on titan which was the first human made object that landed in a world in the outer distant solar system. On July 8^th ,2009 because of this very probe we were able to confirm liquid on Saturn. On April 26^th , 2017 it initiated the most daring assignment for it to do. It was called the grand finale. It had made 22 dives in between the space of Saturn itself and its rings to study about the planets interior and the rings. On the final orbit it plunged down and became one with the planet for once and for all. Amongst all that pressure when it was being plunged down it still kept its antenna pointing towards us, the earth. This is what AI can do for us if we use it properly!!

the cassini- grand finale 👆
  Do you know how close this probe got to Saturn?! 237 kilometres!!!!!!! that close to a massive gas giant. And after that it send radio signals until it plunged into the planet. Cassini was one of a kind. We have lost it to another planet now.

End of part 3,theory 3.

credits: pictures- wikipedia and google pics 

            content- national geographic Cassini tribute video. You can check it out on youtube.

            editing- content creator

            Please see: None of the info was copied from any site. It was all self written, only references were taken as to write content we need some knowledge too!