 "Cassini spacecraft's 20-year Saturn mission ends in fiery space crash")
Nasa's Cassini spacecraft on Friday ended its 20-year-long epic journey with a fiery plunge into the Saturn's crushing atmosphere, while beaming back never- before-seen images of the ringed planet and its moons.
Operators deliberately made Cassini, the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, dive into the gas giant to ensure that the ringed planet's moons - in particular Enceladus, with its subsurface ocean and signs of hydrothermal activity - remain pristine for future exploration.
"Our spacecraft has entered Saturn's atmosphere, and we have received its final transmission," Nasa said in a tweet.
The spacecraft's fateful dive was the final beat in the $4 billion mission's Grand Finale, 22 weekly dives, which began in late April, through the gap between Saturn and its rings.
No spacecraft has ever ventured so close to the planet before, Nasa said.
The probe discovered seasonal changes on Saturn, a hexagon-shaped pattern on the north pole and the moon Titan's resemblance to a primordial Earth.
Scientists found deep, liquid-filled canyons on Saturn's moon Titan for the first time. They also found a global ocean on the moon Enceladus, with ice plumes spouting from its surface.
A joint endeavour of Nasa, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Cassini was a sophisticated robotic spacecraft launched in October 1997 to study the ringed planet and its system in detail.
Operators deliberately made Cassini, the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, dive into the gas giant to ensure that the ringed planet's moons - in particular Enceladus, with its subsurface ocean and signs of hydrothermal activity - remain pristine for future exploration.
"Our spacecraft has entered Saturn's atmosphere, and we have received its final transmission," Nasa said in a tweet.
The spacecraft's fateful dive was the final beat in the $4 billion mission's Grand Finale, 22 weekly dives, which began in late April, through the gap between Saturn and its rings.
No spacecraft has ever ventured so close to the planet before, Nasa said.
Images from @CassiniSaturn's #GrandFinale dive are being posted. (Photo: Twitter,@nasahqphoto)
The probe discovered seasonal changes on Saturn, a hexagon-shaped pattern on the north pole and the moon Titan's resemblance to a primordial Earth.
Scientists found deep, liquid-filled canyons on Saturn's moon Titan for the first time. They also found a global ocean on the moon Enceladus, with ice plumes spouting from its surface.
A joint endeavour of Nasa, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian space agency, Agenzia Spaziale Italiana (ASI), Cassini was a sophisticated robotic spacecraft launched in October 1997 to study the ringed planet and its system in detail.