NASA's $ 3.3 billion spacecraft is about to commit suicide on Saturn

The Cassini spacecraft is about to fly through Saturn's atmosphere and crash into the giant planet's surface after 13 years of discovery.

Cassini's journey into Saturn.(Video: NASA.)

Cassini will turn into a fireball that will fly through the sky of Saturn next week, according to National Geographic.

In 2004, NASA's $ 3.3 billion Cassini began to explore Saturn and its moons. For more than 13 years, the ship has been flying around Saturn, making millions of commands and transmitting more than 450,000 photos.

Although Cassini is expected to become a permanent resident in the system even after exhausting fuel, the ship's ultimate scientific mission is to commit suicide by plunging through Saturn's atmosphere.

"I feel as if the end of the mission is coming faster than expected. On that last day, I will feel sadness mixed with great pride about all that the ship has achieved," Linda Spilker, the Cassini project scientist, shared.

On September 11, a gravitational push from the great moon Titan will bring Cassini into the collision with Saturn. At about 3 pm on September 14, Cassini will take the final picture. From that time onwards, the ship will maintain contact with the Earth while making the journey to death.

Around 5.30 pm on September 15, Cassini will begin to fly through the clouds at the top in the planet's atmosphere. As friction with the air increases, the ship will slow down, heat up and start to dive.

Cassini will catch fire like a shining meteor in the sky of Saturn. Even in the final moments, Cassini will still adjust to the Earth and transmit data for as long as possible.

Scientists hope to receive the final signal from Cassini at 6:55 the following day. When the signal passes from Saturn to the radio disc in Australia, Cassini will fly for 83 minutes. After that, the on-board system will turn off permanently.

Cassini will be on fire just before the 20th anniversary of the launch of the universe a month. The ship left Cape Canaveral in Florida, USA on October 15, 1997 and arrived in Saturn on July 1, 2004. The ship immediately surprised scientists when sending impressive images of the planet and its more than 60 moons.

Cassini dropped the Huygens amphibious device on the orange Titan moon. As the second largest moon in the solar system, Titan is covered by a dense nitrogen atmosphere, obscuring lakes and sea surfaces. Thanks to Cassini, the researchers identified Titan as one of the best options to find life beyond Earth.

Shortly thereafter, Cassini discovered giant geys rising from the southernmost cracks of the moon, tiny Enceladus, the frozen moon containing a large ocean hidden below. Like Titan, Enceladus is also considered one of the most likely places to find the most alien life in the solar system.

These two moons are the reason Cassini cannot continue to orbit around Saturn. The spacecraft's fuel reserves are depleted, causing the ship to move around the Saturn system while unable to control the risk of crashing into one of the celestial bodies uncontrollably.