The reason why NASA's $ 3.3 billion ship must commit suicide on Saturn

Cassini is in the process of crashing into Saturn's surface to avoid infecting the Earth's bacteria for two moons that may contain life.

While flying around Saturn's orbit, the $ 3.3 billion Cassini spacecraft of the US Aeronautics and Space Agency (NASA) found the moons of planets such as Enceladus and Titan could contain life outside the planet. Fine, according to IFL Science. According to international rules for planetary protection, people must not do anything that would harm these celestial bodies .

Simulation of Cassini ship crashing into Saturn.(Video: NASA).

Cassini discovered that geysers erupted from cracks in Enceladus, a sure sign that there was an ocean under the celestial surface. When the fuel runs out, the ship needs to be removed safely because if Cassini continues to fly in orbit, it could crash into one of the future moons.

Although Cassini operates in the cold environment of the universe, the interior of the hull remains quite warm, able to nourish some bacteria from the Earth. The vessel operates thanks to a radioactive isotope thermoelectric generator (RTG), based on plutonium-238 decay to provide operational energy. If Cassini hits Enceladus, the ship could melt the thick ice covering the surface and infect the ocean water below.

'They cannot guarantee that it will never happen unless the spacecraft joins the orbit at a very, very far distance from Saturn or for it to crash into the planet. The Grand Finale journey has made a clear choice , ' IFL Science quoted Preston Dyches at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Scientists working on Cassini's mission anticipated this outcome. In 2009, Cassini completed its basic mission with Saturn and the team is considering the ship's next activity. One proposal is to take the aircraft further in the solar system, to Uranus or Neptune because the ship has enough fuel to make the journey. Another option is to ship to Jupiter.

Overview of Cassini spacecraft approaching Saturn.(Graphics: Viet Chung).

Finally, scientists found Saturn too interesting, so they decided to leave the ship behind and schedule the mission to expand. Cassini continued to fly around Saturn and the moons of the planet, transmitting data about many important discoveries.

But Cassini could not avoid the end of fuel exhaustion. The propulsion comes from the combustion reaction between monomethyl hydrazine and nitrogen tetroxide. These fuels on board are limited, so even if the mission on Saturn is renewed, Cassini is always ready to receive an end in control. In 2003, NASA's Galileo spacecraft also crashed into Jupiter for the same reason, to avoid bacterial contamination of the moon Europa.