Cassini - the final curtain

Oxford University scientists are today mourning the demise of the landmark Cassini Space Mission, launched almost twenty years ago. The probe will end its journey with a momentous suicide dive on Friday 15 September. When the spacecraft runs out of fuel, it will shatter into fragments and implode into Saturn's atmosphere. Led by NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, the original Cassini mission launched in October 1997. Scientists from the Department of Physics at Oxford University and RAL Space in Didcot have played an integral role in the satellite's creation from the start. The group built some of the probe's most significant components and even witnessed history when they attended its launch at Cape Canaveral. Since leaving Earth twenty years ago, Cassini has ushered in a new age of science, delivering valuable high quality data that, as the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn, has allowed unparalleled insight into the planet's activity.