NASA's $ 3.3 billion spacecraft buried the body on Saturn

The Cassini spacecraft ended its suicide on Saturn, ending all contact with the Earth after a 20-year mission.

NASA controllers ordered Cassini to commit suicide by plunging through Saturn's atmosphere, according to the BBC. The ship survived for about a minute before breaking. The Cassini has depleted fuel and NASA decided to completely destroy the ship to avoid infecting the Earth bacteria to the two moons that could survive Saturn's life as Titan and Enceladus.

At the mission control room at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) in Pasadena, California, Cassini lost all contact with the Earth at 18:55.

Cassini performed suicide on Saturn.(Photo: NASA).

"Congratulations to all of you. This is a great mission, a great spaceship and all of you are a great team. I declare the mission is over," said Dr. Earl Maize, administrator Project manager Cassini, told colleagues. Maize's statement responded with applause and comforting hugs.

In about 60 seconds, Cassini used the final amount of fuel to ignite the thruster, plunging into Saturn's upper atmosphere. After receiving the "farewell kiss" from the moon Titan on September 11, a gravity push to push the ship into orbit, Cassini plunged into Saturn for the last time at a speed of about 120,700km / h, igniting. among the clouds above the atmosphere. During the journey down, Cassini still tried to direct the antenna towards Earth, passing precious scientific data before the fateful moment arrived.

The loss of signals indicates that the probe has lost control over Saturn's atmosphere. It could not last more than 45 seconds before being torn into pieces, ending one of the most successful cosmic missions in history.

"This is a historic moment. I think everyone's mood reflects that, the anniversary of a miraculous mission, a great legend," Morgan Cable, a JPL scientist. touched said.

Dr. Earl Maize announced the official end of the Cassini mission.(Video: Twitter).

In 13 years of flying around Saturn, Cassini changed our understanding of the sixth planet in the solar system. The ship has watched the storms of monsters sweeping the planet, witnessing ice particles alternating through the belt system and exploring the viability of Saturn moons.

Titan and Enceladus are two outstanding discoveries. Titan is a strange object with a rain of methane pouring down from the orange sky and pouring into giant reservoirs. Cassini dropped a small robot called Huygens on the Titan surface in 2005. The special image transfer device captures pebbles with a smooth surface worn by methane flow. Cassini also tracks objects thought to be volcanoes that erase soft ice and large sand dunes on Titan's surface.

Observations on the moon Enceladus are equally surprising. This moon spits out steam from the southernmost crevices. The water comes from an underground ocean beneath Enceladus' ice cover. When Cassini flew over the pillars of water, the ship showed that the conditions of the underground ocean were very suitable for developmental life.