The priceless legacy of Cassini's ship left on Earth

The Cassini ship disappeared between Saturn's atmosphere but left many valuable scientific legacies and great inspiration.

Cassini - the first spacecraft to carry out its mission to discover Saturn plunged into the planet's atmosphere to commit suicide, leaving a wealth of priceless scientific data and great inspiration to everyone, according to Space.

On September 15, after nearly 20 years in space, Cassini caught fire and disintegrated between Saturn's atmosphere without leaving any trace. The ship just disappeared silently."Cassini has done something extraordinary but not very well known , " said Jim Green, astronomer at NASA.

The Cassini ship rushed through Saturn's atmosphere and caught fire on September 15.(Photo: AWN).

Scientific heritage

Cassini will mark in history as the first spacecraft to operate on Saturn's orbit. In 294 times around Saturn, the ship took more than 450,000 photos and sent 635 gibabytes of scientific data, making more than 160 flights around the planets' moons. The Cassini mission has been renewed twice.

What the ship discovered changed the understanding of scientists about Saturn, the rings and the moon of the planet. The Cassini ship sent photos of the large fountains on the moon Enceladus, the hydrocarbon lake on Titan's moon and the changing season on Saturn. The ship also shows the complexity of famous belts and captures the image of a massive storm on Saturn.

Big storm on Saturn was taken by Cassini.(Photo: NASA).

"Cassini's true legacy is how NASA receives ship data and then decides how to take advantage of it in future missions. I'm pretty sure after Cassini there will be many other tasks." , Green confirmed.

Scientists will continue to analyze Cassini data sent back to decades. Meanwhile, engineers will study to apply advanced technology to the creation of new probes.

Cultural influences

Although Cassini has completely disappeared, there is still a real-life ship-size model still on display. The model was designed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) and located at the California, Los Angeles Science Center before the ship reached Saturn. JPL also displayed a half-size real model at the main hall in Pasadena, California.

In 2004, two fast food chains Carl's Jr. and Hardee's provide "NASA Kids" meals for children with Cassini and Saturn simulators. The ship also appears in several books, such as the "Owners' Workshop Manual" by Ralph Lorenz, a member of the Cassini project team.

Royal Mail's "Space Science" stamp set.(Photo: Collect Space).

Royal Mail, the UK postal service, has launched a "Space Science" stamp with images from the duties of the European Space Agency (ESA) in 2012. Cassini-Huygens mission by NASA, ESA and Mechanical The Italian Space Agency (ASI) co-implemented also contributed some images in this stamp set. Some other countries have also printed commemorative stamps on Cassini, including Maldives, Guinea and Togo.

"As for Cassini's cultural influence, I think the ship has more impact on art. I have seen many artists using images from Saturn, especially the belts, making patterns, backgrounds or elements. design in his work, " said Emily Lakdawalla, editor at The Planetary Society.

"I also see many musical compositions related to Saturn, its rings and moons. It would be interesting to conduct a survey of Cassini's influence on art," she added.

To commemorate the moment when the mission of Cassini's ship ended, The Planetary Society released a video, in which the actor of the famous series "Star Trek", Robert Picardo, performed the song "Le Cassini Opera" as a word. witty goodbye for the ship.

Goodbye song for Cassini, "Le Cassini Opera".(Video: The Planetary Society).

Extraordinary mission

The most precious gift Cassini has left for Earth is the ship images recorded in nearly two decades in space. Unlike the two predecessors, the Pioneer and Voyager only flew over Saturn, Cassini stayed for 13 years and sent detailed images, revealing a diverse natural world on the planet.

"For astronomers, Cassini is an extraordinary mission with images that are sent regularly and make you cry out ," commented Lakdawalla. Sometimes, Cassini images capture not only astounding scientists or astronomers but also impress the whole world.

The tiny Earth image taken by Cassini from Saturn.(Photo: NASA).

During Cassini's mission, two solar eclipses occurred because Saturn obscured the sun, according to Todd Barber, an engineer on the Cassini train project. The second eclipse took place on July 19, 2013. Responding to NASA's "Waving Saturn" campaign, people around the world shared more than 1,400 photos of them waving to Saturn in historical times.

On the same day, the Cassini turned the camera towards Earth, capturing the legendary picture of "Smiling Earth Day" , marking the first time humans knew to receive images of Earth from outer space. .

"We can see Saturn from different angles. Cassini has changed people's understanding of Saturn, showing how a planet can change and develop , " concludes Lakdawall. .