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Cassini phones home after dive between Saturn and rings

Steve Jacobs

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Cassini dives through Saturn's rings

After the first-ever dive through the narrow gap between the planet Saturn and its rings, NASA's Cassini spacecraft transmits pictures back to mission control. Vision: NASA.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has made a historic descent through a gap between Saturn and its rings, NASA says.

As it divedΒ through,Β CassiniΒ came within about 3000Β kilometresΒ of Saturn's cloud topsΒ and within about 300Β kilometresΒ of the innermost visible edge of the rings, NASA said.

TheΒ gap betweenΒ the rings andΒ the top of Saturn's atmosphere is about 2000Β kilometres.

The spacecraft is beaming back data viaΒ NASA's Deep Space Network Goldstone Complex in California'sΒ MojaveΒ Desert.Β 

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TheΒ Deep Space Network made contact withΒ CassiniΒ atΒ 11.56pmΒ Pacific Daylight TimeΒ on Wednesday (4.56pm on Thursday,Β AEST).Β Data began flowing back at 12.01am PDT on Thursday.

NASA has already received some spectacular images.

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The agency was confident that CassiniΒ would pass through the gap successfully, but mission managers but took extra precautions as even the smallest ring particle could have disabled the spacecraft.

As a protective measure, Cassini used its dish-shaped antenna, which is four metres wide, as a shield, orienting it in the direction of oncoming particles. This meant that it was out of contact with Earth during the descent.

"No spacecraft has ever been this close to Saturn before," CassiniΒ project manager Earl Maize of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, was quoted by the agency as saying.

"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 thatΒ CassiniΒ shot through the gap just as we planned and has come out the other side in excellent shape."

Cassini'sΒ next dive through the gap is scheduled for May 2.

Cassini, which was launched in 1997,Β arrived at Saturn in 2004. It is now embarking on what mission planners are calling its "grand finale". It will make 22 dives, about one a week, between the rings and the planet.

It will plunge into Saturn's atmosphere on its final dive on SeptemberΒ 15.

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