NASA Wants to Send Shapeshifting Robots to Saturn Moon
Cassini May Be Gone, But The Adventure Continues
Cassini's Swan Song: Greatest Hits of the Saturn System
NASA's 40-year Voyage Continues
On the Eve of Retirement, Cassini to Deliver Final Images of Saturn
Where Else in the Universe Can You Find Fjords? On This Distant Moon
What Mysterious Forces Are Creating Mountains on Titan?
The Cassini Spacecraft Gets Set for a Grand Finale
NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Reveals Mystery Lakes on Saturn's Moon Titan
Sponsored
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He graduated from Sonoma State University in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in physics (and minor in astronomy), after which he signed on for a two-year stint in the Peace Corps, where he taught physics and mathematics in the African nation of Cameroon. From 1989-96 he served on the crew of NASA’s Kuiper Airborne Observatory at Ames Research Center in Mountain View, CA. From 1996-99, he was Head Observer at the Naval Prototype Optical Interferometer program at Lowell Observatory in Flagstaff, AZ.\r\n\r\nRead his \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/author/ben-burress/\">previous contributions\u003c/a> to \u003ca href=\"http://science.kqed.org/quest/\">QUEST\u003c/a>, a project dedicated to exploring the Science of Sustainability.","avatar":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8263bffa345b7e4923a0b8b9f0f6a161?s=600&d=blank&r=g","twitter":null,"facebook":null,"instagram":null,"linkedin":null,"sites":[{"site":"science","roles":["editor"]},{"site":"quest","roles":["subscriber"]}],"headData":{"title":"Ben Burress | KQED","description":null,"ogImgSrc":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8263bffa345b7e4923a0b8b9f0f6a161?s=600&d=blank&r=g","twImgSrc":"https://secure.gravatar.com/avatar/8263bffa345b7e4923a0b8b9f0f6a161?s=600&d=blank&r=g"},"isLoading":false,"link":"/author/ben-burress"}},"breakingNewsReducer":{},"campaignFinanceReducer":{},"firebase":{"requesting":{},"requested":{},"timestamps":{},"data":{},"ordered":{},"auth":{"isLoaded":false,"isEmpty":true},"authError":null,"profile":{"isLoaded":false,"isEmpty":true},"listeners":{"byId":{},"allIds":[]},"isInitializing":false,"errors":[]},"navBarReducer":{"navBarId":"news","fullView":true,"showPlayer":false},"navMenuReducer":{"menus":[{"key":"menu1","items":[{"name":"News","link":"/","type":"title"},{"name":"Politics","link":"/politics"},{"name":"Science","link":"/science"},{"name":"Education","link":"/educationnews"},{"name":"Housing","link":"/housing"},{"name":"Immigration","link":"/immigration"},{"name":"Criminal Justice","link":"/criminaljustice"},{"name":"Silicon Valley","link":"/siliconvalley"},{"name":"Forum","link":"/forum"},{"name":"The California Report","link":"/californiareport"}]},{"key":"menu2","items":[{"name":"Arts & Culture","link":"/arts","type":"title"},{"name":"Critics’ Picks","link":"/thedolist"},{"name":"Cultural Commentary","link":"/artscommentary"},{"name":"Food & Drink","link":"/food"},{"name":"Bay Area Hip-Hop","link":"/bayareahiphop"},{"name":"Rebel Girls","link":"/rebelgirls"},{"name":"Arts Video","link":"/artsvideos"}]},{"key":"menu3","items":[{"name":"Podcasts","link":"/podcasts","type":"title"},{"name":"Bay Curious","link":"/podcasts/baycurious"},{"name":"Rightnowish","link":"/podcasts/rightnowish"},{"name":"The Bay","link":"/podcasts/thebay"},{"name":"On Our Watch","link":"/podcasts/onourwatch"},{"name":"Mindshift","link":"/podcasts/mindshift"},{"name":"Consider This","link":"/podcasts/considerthis"},{"name":"Political Breakdown","link":"/podcasts/politicalbreakdown"}]},{"key":"menu4","items":[{"name":"Live Radio","link":"/radio","type":"title"},{"name":"TV","link":"/tv","type":"title"},{"name":"Events","link":"/events","type":"title"},{"name":"For Educators","link":"/education","type":"title"},{"name":"Support KQED","link":"/support","type":"title"},{"name":"About","link":"/about","type":"title"},{"name":"Help Center","link":"https://kqed-helpcenter.kqed.org/s","type":"title"}]}]},"pagesReducer":{},"postsReducer":{"stream_live":{"type":"live","id":"stream_live","audioUrl":"https://streams.kqed.org/kqedradio","title":"Live Stream","excerpt":"Live Stream information currently unavailable.","link":"/radio","featImg":"","label":{"name":"KQED Live","link":"/"}},"stream_kqedNewscast":{"type":"posts","id":"stream_kqedNewscast","audioUrl":"https://www.kqed.org/.stream/anon/radio/RDnews/newscast.mp3?_=1","title":"KQED Newscast","featImg":"","label":{"name":"88.5 FM","link":"/"}},"science_1948555":{"type":"posts","id":"science_1948555","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"1948555","score":null,"sort":[1570640156000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"nasa-wants-to-send-shapeshifting-robots-to-saturn-moon","title":"NASA Wants to Send Shapeshifting Robots to Saturn Moon","publishDate":1570640156,"format":"standard","headTitle":"NASA Wants to Send Shapeshifting Robots to Saturn Moon | KQED","labelTerm":{},"content":"\u003cp>As they conceive a new generation of robotic “rovers,” NASA engineers are challenging themselves to think outside the box.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The contraptions they envision bear little resemblance to the car-like, six-wheeled cruisers we’ve followed during rolling adventures on Mars. Future space exploration robots may resemble “Transformers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because a robot operating semi-autonomously on very alien turf must be able to negotiate a broad range of terrains and environmental conditions, the likes of which may not exist on Earth. So, how to design – and prepare the rover – for situations engineers may not even anticipate?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Shapeshifter\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To handle one of the more distant and fascinating objects in our solar system – \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/saturn-moons/titan/overview/\">Saturn’s moon Titan\u003c/a> – NASA engineers have come up with \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7505\">Shapeshifter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Concept drawings and working models of this robot resemble farm equipment- some kind of rolling grain harvester or threshing machine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it helps to see past Shapeshifter’s prototype and imagine how engineers might take apart its components and put them back together in different forms to suit different needs, like Lego toys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To demonstrate this concept, they built the Shapeshifter mockup from two separate and complementary assemblies: a pair of flight-capable drones housed within their own halves of a pipe-frame cylinder structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Combined, the prototype can roll like a barrel to easily traverse stretches of flat or mounded terrain. Separately, one half can ascend skyward on propellers, using the other half as a launch pad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More advanced visions for the Shapeshifter stick with the paradigm of smaller robots working together – “co-bots” – that form different configurations, but involve greater numbers of base robot units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1948600\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1948600\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/futureshapeshifter-nasa2-800x451.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"451\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/futureshapeshifter-nasa2-800x451.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/futureshapeshifter-nasa2-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/futureshapeshifter-nasa2-768x433.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/futureshapeshifter-nasa2.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A more advanced concept of the multiple “co-bot” team whose elements can fly like drones, or assemble into configurations optimized for swimming through liquid or rolling or tumbling across a landscape. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These simplified future co-bots may combine into forms that can swim through a sea of liquid, fly together to lift and carry other equipment, such as a larger “mothership” lander, or roll around almost any terrain by reassembling into a sphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bizarre Environments Call For Bizarre Robots\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2005, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft dropped the European “\u003ca href=\"https://sci.esa.int/web/cassini-huygens/-/55221-huygens-titan-science-highlights\">Huygens\u003c/a>” probe onto the surface of Saturn’s mysterious, cloud-shrouded moon Titan. With a simple plan to descend through the thick nitrogen atmosphere on a parachute and set down on any available surface, hopefully with enough battery power for a few minutes of picture-taking, Huygens offered a brief flash of insight into Titan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1948601\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA scored with that touchdown. Huygens, and further investigations by Cassini from space, demonstrated that Titan is a world like no other in the solar system, worthy of further exploration. Scientists also learned what a challenging physical environment Titan presents, and recognized the need for a new, super-flexible roving machine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Earth’s quiescent airless moon, Titan has a thick, dynamic and extremely cold atmosphere. Unlike the dry desert plains and mountains of Mars, Titan has a liquid cycle, similar to Earth’s water cycle. Titan’s rain, rivers, \u003ca href=\"https://earthsky.org/space/scientists-find-new-surprises-about-titans-lakes\">lakes and seas\u003c/a>, however, are freezing cold liquid methane – a material that exists as a gas on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1948620\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600-800x720.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of the surface of Titan, its high and rugged mountains, surface liquid methane, atmosphere, and Saturn in the hazy sky above.\" width=\"800\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600-800x720.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600-160x144.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600-768x691.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600-1020x918.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600-1200x1080.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Titan’s landscapes include vast plains of dunes, high and steep-walled mountains peppered with deep alpine lakes, complex networks of river-carved canyons, and several wide seas of liquid methane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some respects, Titan’s physical environment will make it easier for a co-botic transforming Shapeshifter craft to move about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its surface gravity is about one-seventh that of Earth. Titan is also the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere – thicker than Earth’s – so engineers don’t have to reinvent the helicopter propeller to make their Titanian co-bots fly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Science Fiction Leading the Way?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Transformers” isn’t the only example of \u003ca href=\"https://www.hackster.io/news/superball-v2-is-a-huge-tensegrity-robot-that-can-absorb-substantial-impacts-956e025368b5\">unconventional robot designs\u003c/a> in the realm of science fiction that have played with ideas like shapeshifting and flexible configurations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The robots TARS and CASE in the movie “Interstellar” looked like awkward rectangular blocks of plastic or metal, but their designers gave them the ability to articulate smaller building-block components into different configurations to walk, run, climb, lift, and even pinwheel through a shallow extraterrestrial sea as the situation demanded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I won’t go into the liquid-metal polymorphing robot from “Terminator 2,” but who knows? Engineers are giving shape and motion to blobs of “ferrofluid” with magnetic fields, so it’s not inconceivable that they may one day deploy a fluid “Explorinator” morphing around the surfaces of distant worlds.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"NASA is conceiving a new generation of robotic rovers that will change shape to travel in a range of alien environments. ","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704848242,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":26,"wordCount":805},"headData":{"title":"NASA Wants to Send Shapeshifting Robots to Saturn Moon | KQED","description":"NASA is conceiving a new generation of robotic rovers that will change shape to travel in a range of alien environments. ","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"NASA Wants to Send Shapeshifting Robots to Saturn Moon","datePublished":"2019-10-09T16:55:56.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T00:57:22.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"source":"Astronomy","sticky":false,"path":"/science/1948555/nasa-wants-to-send-shapeshifting-robots-to-saturn-moon","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>As they conceive a new generation of robotic “rovers,” NASA engineers are challenging themselves to think outside the box.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The contraptions they envision bear little resemblance to the car-like, six-wheeled cruisers we’ve followed during rolling adventures on Mars. Future space exploration robots may resemble “Transformers.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>That’s because a robot operating semi-autonomously on very alien turf must be able to negotiate a broad range of terrains and environmental conditions, the likes of which may not exist on Earth. So, how to design – and prepare the rover – for situations engineers may not even anticipate?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Shapeshifter\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To handle one of the more distant and fascinating objects in our solar system – \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/moons/saturn-moons/titan/overview/\">Saturn’s moon Titan\u003c/a> – NASA engineers have come up with \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=7505\">Shapeshifter\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Concept drawings and working models of this robot resemble farm equipment- some kind of rolling grain harvester or threshing machine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But it helps to see past Shapeshifter’s prototype and imagine how engineers might take apart its components and put them back together in different forms to suit different needs, like Lego toys.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>To demonstrate this concept, they built the Shapeshifter mockup from two separate and complementary assemblies: a pair of flight-capable drones housed within their own halves of a pipe-frame cylinder structure.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Combined, the prototype can roll like a barrel to easily traverse stretches of flat or mounded terrain. Separately, one half can ascend skyward on propellers, using the other half as a launch pad.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>More advanced visions for the Shapeshifter stick with the paradigm of smaller robots working together – “co-bots” – that form different configurations, but involve greater numbers of base robot units.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1948600\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1948600\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/futureshapeshifter-nasa2-800x451.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"451\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/futureshapeshifter-nasa2-800x451.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/futureshapeshifter-nasa2-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/futureshapeshifter-nasa2-768x433.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/futureshapeshifter-nasa2.jpg 900w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A more advanced concept of the multiple “co-bot” team whose elements can fly like drones, or assemble into configurations optimized for swimming through liquid or rolling or tumbling across a landscape. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>These simplified future co-bots may combine into forms that can swim through a sea of liquid, fly together to lift and carry other equipment, such as a larger “mothership” lander, or roll around almost any terrain by reassembling into a sphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Bizarre Environments Call For Bizarre Robots\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In 2005, NASA’s Cassini spacecraft dropped the European “\u003ca href=\"https://sci.esa.int/web/cassini-huygens/-/55221-huygens-titan-science-highlights\">Huygens\u003c/a>” probe onto the surface of Saturn’s mysterious, cloud-shrouded moon Titan. With a simple plan to descend through the thick nitrogen atmosphere on a parachute and set down on any available surface, hopefully with enough battery power for a few minutes of picture-taking, Huygens offered a brief flash of insight into Titan.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1948601\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-800x600.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"800\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-800x600.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-768x576.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-1020x765.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-1200x900.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full-1920x1440.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/432541main_titan_huygens_big_full.jpg 2000w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA scored with that touchdown. Huygens, and further investigations by Cassini from space, demonstrated that Titan is a world like no other in the solar system, worthy of further exploration. Scientists also learned what a challenging physical environment Titan presents, and recognized the need for a new, super-flexible roving machine.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Unlike Earth’s quiescent airless moon, Titan has a thick, dynamic and extremely cold atmosphere. Unlike the dry desert plains and mountains of Mars, Titan has a liquid cycle, similar to Earth’s water cycle. Titan’s rain, rivers, \u003ca href=\"https://earthsky.org/space/scientists-find-new-surprises-about-titans-lakes\">lakes and seas\u003c/a>, however, are freezing cold liquid methane – a material that exists as a gas on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-medium wp-image-1948620\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600-800x720.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of the surface of Titan, its high and rugged mountains, surface liquid methane, atmosphere, and Saturn in the hazy sky above.\" width=\"800\" height=\"720\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600-800x720.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600-160x144.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600-768x691.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600-1020x918.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600-1200x1080.jpg 1200w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2019/10/17704_Titan_Backdrop_1600.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Titan’s landscapes include vast plains of dunes, high and steep-walled mountains peppered with deep alpine lakes, complex networks of river-carved canyons, and several wide seas of liquid methane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In some respects, Titan’s physical environment will make it easier for a co-botic transforming Shapeshifter craft to move about.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its surface gravity is about one-seventh that of Earth. Titan is also the only moon in the solar system with a thick atmosphere – thicker than Earth’s – so engineers don’t have to reinvent the helicopter propeller to make their Titanian co-bots fly.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Science Fiction Leading the Way?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>“Transformers” isn’t the only example of \u003ca href=\"https://www.hackster.io/news/superball-v2-is-a-huge-tensegrity-robot-that-can-absorb-substantial-impacts-956e025368b5\">unconventional robot designs\u003c/a> in the realm of science fiction that have played with ideas like shapeshifting and flexible configurations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The robots TARS and CASE in the movie “Interstellar” looked like awkward rectangular blocks of plastic or metal, but their designers gave them the ability to articulate smaller building-block components into different configurations to walk, run, climb, lift, and even pinwheel through a shallow extraterrestrial sea as the situation demanded.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>I won’t go into the liquid-metal polymorphing robot from “Terminator 2,” but who knows? Engineers are giving shape and motion to blobs of “ferrofluid” with magnetic fields, so it’s not inconceivable that they may one day deploy a fluid “Explorinator” morphing around the surfaces of distant worlds.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/1948555/nasa-wants-to-send-shapeshifting-robots-to-saturn-moon","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28"],"tags":["science_498","science_460","science_499","science_5175","science_501","science_502"],"featImg":"science_1948813","label":"source_science_1948555"},"science_1920458":{"type":"posts","id":"science_1920458","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"1920458","score":null,"sort":[1520004641000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"cassini-may-be-gone-but-the-adventure-continues","title":"Cassini May Be Gone, But The Adventure Continues","publishDate":1520004641,"format":"image","headTitle":"Cassini May Be Gone, But The Adventure Continues | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"science"},"content":"\u003cp>Five months after the \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\">Cassini\u003c/a> spacecraft’s fiery burnup in Saturn’s atmosphere, the mission continues to make remarkable discoveries about the gas giant planet and its entourage of fascinating moons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A trove of data sent back to Earth over Cassini’s productive 13-year career remain as digital unexplored territory that scientists continue to investigate. It will be many years before \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/science/saturn-cassini-return.html\">another Saturn mission\u003c/a> is mounted, and Cassini’s posthumous bequest of data will not only deliver further rewards, it may help shape that next mission’s scientific goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest discovery comes from Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, and adds to an \u003ca href=\"http://www.techtimes.com/articles/62131/20150622/how-similar-is-saturns-moon-titan-to-earth-let-us-count-the-ways-polar-winds-liquid-on-surface-and-more.htm\">impressive list of similarities\u003c/a> between this small world and the planet Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1920467\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 580px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1920467 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/possiblefuturemissions-nasajpl.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of possible future missions to Titan, including an orbiter, a "floating" probe designed to drift around Titan's methane seas, and a balloon-borne robotic explorer. \" width=\"580\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/possiblefuturemissions-nasajpl.jpg 580w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/possiblefuturemissions-nasajpl-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/possiblefuturemissions-nasajpl-240x153.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/possiblefuturemissions-nasajpl-375x239.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/possiblefuturemissions-nasajpl-520x332.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of possible future missions to Titan, including an orbiter, a “floating” probe designed to drift around Titan’s methane seas, and a balloon-borne robotic explorer. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”qstjFGYeLO0pSJOpXWXFB0OYZU2E1DxO”]Precision measurements of the surface elevations of Titan’s three large liquid-methane seas reveal that they share a common “sea level.” That may not sound remarkable — until you learn that these three seas, unlike the four contiguous oceans on Earth, are not physically connected on the surface, but separated by dry land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Titan’s Liquid Surprises\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It may sound like a page from a far-out science fiction novel, but the fact that there is liquid flowing on Titan’s surface (and falling from its skies) is not new information. Inspiring to the imagination, yes, but not new.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”Im6Ln0SzC3PeVrYv6PMxj6EysrXSaKmb”]Early in Cassini’s mission following its 2004 arrival at Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft, as well as the European Huygens probe it sent to Titan’s surface, discovered networks of what looked like drainage channels feeding into wide, flat areas — later confirmed to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/cassini-explores-a-methane-sea-on-titan\">lakes and seas\u003c/a>. At Titan’s surface temperature of minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit, it was obvious that these were not rivers and seas of liquid water, but cryogenic liquid hydrocarbons, mainly methane and ethane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1920468\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1920468\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-800x400.jpg\" alt=\"Sunlight reflecting off of Titan's liquid methane seas, as seen through Cassini. \" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-800x400.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-160x80.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-768x384.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-1020x510.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-1180x590.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-960x480.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-240x120.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-375x188.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-520x260.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunlight reflecting off of Titan’s liquid methane seas, as seen through Cassini. \u003ccite>( NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/University of Idaho)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/18dec_titanglint\">Flashes of sunlight\u003c/a> reflecting from sea surfaces also helped confirm the presence of the surface liquid. Further measurements of Titan’s atmosphere and its thick layer of hydrocarbon haze (natural smog) revealed a complete liquid cycle of precipitation (methane rain!), runoff, and pooling. In addition to the larger lakes and seas, smaller \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/08/19/where-else-in-the-universe-can-you-find-fjords-on-this-distant-moon/\">“alpine” lakes\u003c/a> were detected at higher elevations, in Titan’s mountains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is Titan’s Crust Porous, Like a Sponge?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, after over 13 years and 127 flybys of Titan, Cassini has revealed that Titan’s three large seas, Kraken Mare, Ligeia Mare, and Punga Mare, all share a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/cassini-finds-saturn-moon-has-sea-level-like-earth\">common surface sea level\u003c/a>, even though they appear physically separated by dry land—bedrock of water ice and frozen hydrocarbon compounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earth’s oceans are physically connected at the surface, forming one global body of water whose surface naturally seeks a common “equipotential surface” \u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/geoid.html\">shaped by the forces\u003c/a> of Earth’s gravity and rotation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1920469\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1920469\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-800x428.jpg\" alt=\"Cassini map of Titan's three large seas, and surrounding smaller lakes. \" width=\"800\" height=\"428\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-800x428.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-160x86.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-768x411.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-240x128.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-375x201.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-520x278.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares.jpg 860w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassini map of Titan’s three large seas, and surrounding smaller lakes. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/USGS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Explaining Titan’s common sea level requires scratching beneath the surface a bit. Lacking any visible connections on the surface, Titan’s seas must be connected underground, maybe through a system of aquifers or networks of caves. \u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[contextly_sidebar id=”OIs0CJLzkJl9od8bvIYzaCNTbmLdN2Sn”]While this liquid-leveling interaction between Titan’s seas may function differently than in Earth’s oceans, there is a connection to be made to some of Earth’s lakes. While lakes can be found at many different elevations above sea level on Earth (and Titan, for that matter), some pairs and groups of adjacent terrestrial lakes share common surface levels by “communicating” with each other through underground caves, aquifers, and ground water tables.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So not only has Cassini revealed something new about Titan from beyond the grave, the implications of the discovery tell us something about the composition and structure in Titan’s crust, beneath the surface: it is liquid-permeable over the vast region on which its three large seas rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also a reminder that while Titan may \u003ca href=\"http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/01/saturns-moon-titan-sports-earth-features\">resemble Earth in several ways\u003c/a>, it’s also a very alien world whose bedrock is water ice and frozen hydrocarbons and whose clouds, rain, rivers, lakes and seas are a frigid liquefied form of natural gas.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Five months after Cassini's termination, the mission continues to make discoveries about the Saturn system.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704928151,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":17,"wordCount":783},"headData":{"title":"Cassini May Be Gone, But The Adventure Continues | KQED","description":"Five months after Cassini's termination, the mission continues to make discoveries about the Saturn system.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Cassini May Be Gone, But The Adventure Continues","datePublished":"2018-03-02T15:30:41.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T23:09:11.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"sticky":false,"path":"/science/1920458/cassini-may-be-gone-but-the-adventure-continues","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Five months after the \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\">Cassini\u003c/a> spacecraft’s fiery burnup in Saturn’s atmosphere, the mission continues to make remarkable discoveries about the gas giant planet and its entourage of fascinating moons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A trove of data sent back to Earth over Cassini’s productive 13-year career remain as digital unexplored territory that scientists continue to investigate. It will be many years before \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/09/15/science/saturn-cassini-return.html\">another Saturn mission\u003c/a> is mounted, and Cassini’s posthumous bequest of data will not only deliver further rewards, it may help shape that next mission’s scientific goals.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The latest discovery comes from Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, and adds to an \u003ca href=\"http://www.techtimes.com/articles/62131/20150622/how-similar-is-saturns-moon-titan-to-earth-let-us-count-the-ways-polar-winds-liquid-on-surface-and-more.htm\">impressive list of similarities\u003c/a> between this small world and the planet Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1920467\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 580px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1920467 size-full\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/possiblefuturemissions-nasajpl.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of possible future missions to Titan, including an orbiter, a "floating" probe designed to drift around Titan's methane seas, and a balloon-borne robotic explorer. \" width=\"580\" height=\"370\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/possiblefuturemissions-nasajpl.jpg 580w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/possiblefuturemissions-nasajpl-160x102.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/possiblefuturemissions-nasajpl-240x153.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/possiblefuturemissions-nasajpl-375x239.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/possiblefuturemissions-nasajpl-520x332.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 580px) 100vw, 580px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of possible future missions to Titan, including an orbiter, a “floating” probe designed to drift around Titan’s methane seas, and a balloon-borne robotic explorer. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>Precision measurements of the surface elevations of Titan’s three large liquid-methane seas reveal that they share a common “sea level.” That may not sound remarkable — until you learn that these three seas, unlike the four contiguous oceans on Earth, are not physically connected on the surface, but separated by dry land.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Titan’s Liquid Surprises\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It may sound like a page from a far-out science fiction novel, but the fact that there is liquid flowing on Titan’s surface (and falling from its skies) is not new information. Inspiring to the imagination, yes, but not new.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>Early in Cassini’s mission following its 2004 arrival at Saturn, the Cassini spacecraft, as well as the European Huygens probe it sent to Titan’s surface, discovered networks of what looked like drainage channels feeding into wide, flat areas — later confirmed to be \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/cassini-explores-a-methane-sea-on-titan\">lakes and seas\u003c/a>. At Titan’s surface temperature of minus 290 degrees Fahrenheit, it was obvious that these were not rivers and seas of liquid water, but cryogenic liquid hydrocarbons, mainly methane and ethane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1920468\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1920468\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-800x400.jpg\" alt=\"Sunlight reflecting off of Titan's liquid methane seas, as seen through Cassini. \" width=\"800\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-800x400.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-160x80.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-768x384.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-1020x510.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-1180x590.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-960x480.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-240x120.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-375x188.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight-520x260.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/flashesofsunlight.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunlight reflecting off of Titan’s liquid methane seas, as seen through Cassini. \u003ccite>( NASA/JPL-Caltech/University of Arizona/University of Idaho)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/science-news/science-at-nasa/2009/18dec_titanglint\">Flashes of sunlight\u003c/a> reflecting from sea surfaces also helped confirm the presence of the surface liquid. Further measurements of Titan’s atmosphere and its thick layer of hydrocarbon haze (natural smog) revealed a complete liquid cycle of precipitation (methane rain!), runoff, and pooling. In addition to the larger lakes and seas, smaller \u003ca href=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/2016/08/19/where-else-in-the-universe-can-you-find-fjords-on-this-distant-moon/\">“alpine” lakes\u003c/a> were detected at higher elevations, in Titan’s mountains.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Is Titan’s Crust Porous, Like a Sponge?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Now, after over 13 years and 127 flybys of Titan, Cassini has revealed that Titan’s three large seas, Kraken Mare, Ligeia Mare, and Punga Mare, all share a \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/cassini-finds-saturn-moon-has-sea-level-like-earth\">common surface sea level\u003c/a>, even though they appear physically separated by dry land—bedrock of water ice and frozen hydrocarbon compounds.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earth’s oceans are physically connected at the surface, forming one global body of water whose surface naturally seeks a common “equipotential surface” \u003ca href=\"https://oceanservice.noaa.gov/facts/geoid.html\">shaped by the forces\u003c/a> of Earth’s gravity and rotation.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1920469\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1920469\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-800x428.jpg\" alt=\"Cassini map of Titan's three large seas, and surrounding smaller lakes. \" width=\"800\" height=\"428\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-800x428.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-160x86.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-768x411.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-240x128.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-375x201.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares-520x278.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2018/02/titans-mares.jpg 860w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassini map of Titan’s three large seas, and surrounding smaller lakes. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/USGS)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Explaining Titan’s common sea level requires scratching beneath the surface a bit. Lacking any visible connections on the surface, Titan’s seas must be connected underground, maybe through a system of aquifers or networks of caves. \u003cstrong> \u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003cp>While this liquid-leveling interaction between Titan’s seas may function differently than in Earth’s oceans, there is a connection to be made to some of Earth’s lakes. While lakes can be found at many different elevations above sea level on Earth (and Titan, for that matter), some pairs and groups of adjacent terrestrial lakes share common surface levels by “communicating” with each other through underground caves, aquifers, and ground water tables.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>So not only has Cassini revealed something new about Titan from beyond the grave, the implications of the discovery tell us something about the composition and structure in Titan’s crust, beneath the surface: it is liquid-permeable over the vast region on which its three large seas rest.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s also a reminder that while Titan may \u003ca href=\"http://news.cornell.edu/stories/2018/01/saturns-moon-titan-sports-earth-features\">resemble Earth in several ways\u003c/a>, it’s also a very alien world whose bedrock is water ice and frozen hydrocarbons and whose clouds, rain, rivers, lakes and seas are a frigid liquefied form of natural gas.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/1920458/cassini-may-be-gone-but-the-adventure-continues","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28"],"tags":["science_498","science_3370","science_5175","science_502"],"featImg":"science_1920622","label":"science"},"science_1915056":{"type":"posts","id":"science_1915056","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"1915056","score":null,"sort":[1504277626000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"cassinis-swan-song-greatest-hits-of-the-saturn-system","title":"Cassini's Swan Song: Greatest Hits of the Saturn System","publishDate":1504277626,"format":"standard","headTitle":"Cassini’s Swan Song: Greatest Hits of the Saturn System | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"science"},"content":"\u003cp>On September 15, NASA’s flagship robotic explorer, Cassini, will plummet into Saturn’s atmosphere in a fiery burn-up, \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6930&utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NASAJPL&utm_content=daily20170824-1\">ending a thirteen-year career\u003c/a> of exploring Saturn and its host of remarkable moons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Cassini readies itself for the dramatic \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/overview/\">end-of-mission blow-out\u003c/a>, we can take some time to reflect on a few of its most \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/2984/cassini-top-10-science-highlights-2016/\">remarkable discoveries and achievements\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Huygens Probe\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early in its mission, in 2005, Cassini dropped the \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens\">European Space Agency’s \u003cem>Huygens\u003c/em> probe\u003c/a> onto the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. This remains the most distant landing in our solar system to date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1915061\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1915061\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-800x1594.jpg\" alt=\"Image from the surface of Titan taken by the ESA Huygens probe in 2005. \" width=\"800\" height=\"1594\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-800x1594.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-160x319.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-768x1530.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-1020x2032.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-1180x2351.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-960x1913.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-240x478.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-375x747.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-520x1036.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens.jpg 1588w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image from the surface of Titan taken by the ESA Huygens probe in 2005. \u003ccite>(NASA/ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Huygens parachuted through Titan’s thick nitrogen atmosphere and hydrocarbon haze, measuring atmospheric pressure, temperature, and composition, as well as recording sounds with a microphone during the nearly 2.5-hour descent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huygens captured images of the landscape below as it descended, and pictures from Titan’s surface following its successful landing—the first images from the surface of any object in the outer solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Water on Enceladus\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also in 2005, Cassini discovered \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/science/saturn-cassini-moon-enceladus.html\">plumes of water vapor\u003c/a> erupting from the tiny moon Enceladus. The gases, emerging from long crevasses near the south pole, included other chemicals, such as nitrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide. In 2008, Cassini also detected propane, acetylene, and formaldehyde in the geyser plumes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1915062\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1915062\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-800x495.jpg\" alt=\"Plumes of water vapor erupting from the southern polar region of Enceladus. \" width=\"800\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-800x495.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-768x475.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-1020x631.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-1180x730.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-960x594.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-240x148.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-375x232.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-520x322.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute.jpg 1580w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plumes of water vapor erupting from the southern polar region of Enceladus. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Further measurements from several flybys of the moon fueled the hypothesis that Enceladus possesses a saltwater ocean hidden deep under its icy crust. Even more tantalizing, the evidence suggests that there may exist \u003ca href=\"http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/solar-system/news/a26044/cassini-evidence-hydrothermal-vents-enceladus/\">hydrothermal vents\u003c/a> spewing hot, mineral-laden water on the ocean’s floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This makes Enceladus a very hot prospect in the search for locations beyond Earth that could support some form of life. Hydrothermal vents in our own oceans support thriving communities of life forms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Saturn’s Dynamic Rings\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini’s many years of observations of \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/rings/\">Saturn’s icon rings\u003c/a> have revealed their dynamic nature in ways that single “snapshots,” such as images captured during the brief fly-bys of Voyagers 1 and 2, could not, and in much finer detail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not only have scientists analyzed the dusty, icy composition of the rings, they have discovered tiny moons, near and even orbiting within the rings, sculpting the ring material into repeating waves, ropey filaments, and other intricate and beautiful patterns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1915063\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1915063\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-800x605.jpg\" alt=\"Vertical structures in Saturn's rings rising up to a mile above the ring plane, kicked up by gravitational disturbance of a tiny "moonlet" orbiting within the rings. \" width=\"800\" height=\"605\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-800x605.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-768x580.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-1020x771.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-1180x892.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-960x725.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-240x181.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-375x283.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-520x393.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vertical structures in Saturn’s rings rising up to a mile above the ring plane, kicked up by gravitational disturbance of a tiny “moonlet” orbiting within the rings. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cassini has even seen, in some locations, vertical structures rising in rows of feathery, spiky fringe high above the rings. These features are caused by the passage of a tiny “moonlet” orbiting Saturn nearby, which disrupts the ring’s otherwise flat plane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An image taken in 2013, showing a bright “knot” within the outermost of Saturn’s bright rings, may prove to be a \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-112\">new moon forming\u003c/a> out of the ring material. If so, then Cassini’s ring observations may tell us something about the formation of some of Saturn’s other small, icy moons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Titan: A Cold, Primordial Earth?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the most intriguing characters in the Cassini-Huygens mission is \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/titan\">Titan\u003c/a>. Saturn’s largest moon happens to be the only one in the solar system with a thick atmosphere. The Voyager missions, passing through the neighborhood in the 1980s, were the first to see Titan’s atmosphere and its obscuring shroud of hydrocarbon “smog.” Cassini, and the Huygens probe, however, have revealed it in rich detail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though cold in the extreme, Titan’s dense nitrogen, hydrocarbon-infused atmosphere has proven to support a liquid cycle, analogous to Earth’s water cycle, but dealing in cryogenic liquid methane and ethane instead. Precipitation collecting in extensive river-like drainage networks feed into \u003ca href=\"http://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens/Profile_of_a_methane_sea_on_Titan\">large lakes and seas\u003c/a>, one comparable in surface area to Lake Superior in North America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1915064\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1915064\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-800x763.jpg\" alt=\"Ligiea Mare, one of Titan's large liquid methane seas. The image shows river-like drainage channels flowing into the sea. \" width=\"800\" height=\"763\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-800x763.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-160x153.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-768x732.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-1020x972.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-1180x1125.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-960x915.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-240x229.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-375x357.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-520x496.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell.jpg 1581w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ligiea Mare, one of Titan’s large liquid methane seas. The image shows river-like drainage channels flowing into the sea. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech/ASI/Cornell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Complex hydrocarbons are found on Titan, a product of photo-chemical interactions of sunlight and methane high in the atmosphere. These organic molecules form Titan’s “smog” layer, and precipitate downward to supply the liquid cycle on the surface. Though cold enough to liquefy methane–a gas on Earth–Titan has been likened to a primordial, pre-biotic Earth, and in studying it we may be catching glimpses of our own planet’s beginnings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Saturn Scrutinized at Close Range in Cassini’s Grand Finale Tour\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini is now in the final phase of its so-called “Grand Finale” tour, looping through a wildly eccentric polar orbit that sends it \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/2966/ring-grazing-orbits/\">skimming repeatedly between Saturn’s rings and cloud-tops\u003c/a>. This final and daring maneuver, Cassini’s “swan song” of Saturn exploration, is giving us our closest, most detailed vistas ever of the gas giant and its famous rings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1915065\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1915065\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-800x602.jpg\" alt=\"An extreme close-up of Saturn's cloud tops captured by Cassini during one of its grazing "Grand Finale" passages between the planet and its rings. \" width=\"800\" height=\"602\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-800x602.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-768x578.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-1020x767.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-960x722.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-240x181.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-375x282.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-520x391.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech.jpg 1041w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An extreme close-up of Saturn’s cloud tops captured by Cassini during one of its grazing “Grand Finale” passages between the planet and its rings. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cassini is also making magnetic and gravitational measurements during each close pass that promise to tell us something about Saturn’s internal structure. And, as it makes its ever-tightening swings closer to the atmosphere, it will ultimately sample the planet’s chemistry directly, becoming the first spacecraft to touch the skies of Saturn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Final Plunge\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Cassini finally plunges into Saturn, friction with the atmosphere will generate intense heat, and Cassini will be vaporized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini’s planned incineration is a move by NASA to protect Saturn’s moons from accidental contamination by Earthly microorganisms that could be riding along. (Space agencies NASA and the ESA had also considered the potential for contamination of Titan by the Hugyens probe, but determined that the extremely low temperatures and lack of liquid water made the likelihood practically zero.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After 20 years in space (seven years traveling to Saturn and 13 years in orbit), Cassini is running low on the rocket fuel used to adjust its trajectory. Once its fuel is depleted, the spacecraft would otherwise become a derelict that could crash into a moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the possibility of life-friendly environments on at least one or two of Saturn’s moons, NASA’s end-of-mission ethic is to safely dispose of the spacecraft to eliminate that possibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad floatright]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farewell, Cassini, and thanks for all the wonders you have brought us!\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"On September 15, NASA's flagship robotic explorer, Cassini, will plummet into Saturn's atmosphere in a fiery burn-up, ending a thirteen-year career of exploring Saturn and its host of remarkable moons. As we prepare ourselves for Cassini's dramatic end-of-mission blow-out, we can take some time to reflect on a few of its most remarkable discoveries and achievements.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704928404,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":30,"wordCount":1175},"headData":{"title":"Cassini's Swan Song: Greatest Hits of the Saturn System | KQED","description":"On September 15, NASA's flagship robotic explorer, Cassini, will plummet into Saturn's atmosphere in a fiery burn-up, ending a thirteen-year career of exploring Saturn and its host of remarkable moons. As we prepare ourselves for Cassini's dramatic end-of-mission blow-out, we can take some time to reflect on a few of its most remarkable discoveries and achievements.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Cassini's Swan Song: Greatest Hits of the Saturn System","datePublished":"2017-09-01T14:53:46.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T23:13:24.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"sticky":false,"path":"/science/1915056/cassinis-swan-song-greatest-hits-of-the-saturn-system","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On September 15, NASA’s flagship robotic explorer, Cassini, will plummet into Saturn’s atmosphere in a fiery burn-up, \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6930&utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NASAJPL&utm_content=daily20170824-1\">ending a thirteen-year career\u003c/a> of exploring Saturn and its host of remarkable moons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Cassini readies itself for the dramatic \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/overview/\">end-of-mission blow-out\u003c/a>, we can take some time to reflect on a few of its most \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/2984/cassini-top-10-science-highlights-2016/\">remarkable discoveries and achievements\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Huygens Probe\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Early in its mission, in 2005, Cassini dropped the \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens\">European Space Agency’s \u003cem>Huygens\u003c/em> probe\u003c/a> onto the surface of Titan, Saturn’s largest moon. This remains the most distant landing in our solar system to date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1915061\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1915061\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-800x1594.jpg\" alt=\"Image from the surface of Titan taken by the ESA Huygens probe in 2005. \" width=\"800\" height=\"1594\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-800x1594.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-160x319.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-768x1530.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-1020x2032.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-1180x2351.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-960x1913.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-240x478.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-375x747.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens-520x1036.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/Titan_s_surface_Huygens.jpg 1588w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Image from the surface of Titan taken by the ESA Huygens probe in 2005. \u003ccite>(NASA/ESA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Huygens parachuted through Titan’s thick nitrogen atmosphere and hydrocarbon haze, measuring atmospheric pressure, temperature, and composition, as well as recording sounds with a microphone during the nearly 2.5-hour descent.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Huygens captured images of the landscape below as it descended, and pictures from Titan’s surface following its successful landing—the first images from the surface of any object in the outer solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Water on Enceladus\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Also in 2005, Cassini discovered \u003ca href=\"https://www.nytimes.com/2017/04/13/science/saturn-cassini-moon-enceladus.html\">plumes of water vapor\u003c/a> erupting from the tiny moon Enceladus. The gases, emerging from long crevasses near the south pole, included other chemicals, such as nitrogen, methane, and carbon dioxide. In 2008, Cassini also detected propane, acetylene, and formaldehyde in the geyser plumes.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1915062\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1915062\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-800x495.jpg\" alt=\"Plumes of water vapor erupting from the southern polar region of Enceladus. \" width=\"800\" height=\"495\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-800x495.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-160x99.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-768x475.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-1020x631.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-1180x730.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-960x594.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-240x148.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-375x232.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute-520x322.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/main_pia11688_nasa-jpl-spacesciencesinstitute.jpg 1580w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Plumes of water vapor erupting from the southern polar region of Enceladus. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL/Space Science Institute)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Further measurements from several flybys of the moon fueled the hypothesis that Enceladus possesses a saltwater ocean hidden deep under its icy crust. Even more tantalizing, the evidence suggests that there may exist \u003ca href=\"http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/solar-system/news/a26044/cassini-evidence-hydrothermal-vents-enceladus/\">hydrothermal vents\u003c/a> spewing hot, mineral-laden water on the ocean’s floor.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This makes Enceladus a very hot prospect in the search for locations beyond Earth that could support some form of life. Hydrothermal vents in our own oceans support thriving communities of life forms.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Saturn’s Dynamic Rings\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini’s many years of observations of \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/rings/\">Saturn’s icon rings\u003c/a> have revealed their dynamic nature in ways that single “snapshots,” such as images captured during the brief fly-bys of Voyagers 1 and 2, could not, and in much finer detail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Not only have scientists analyzed the dusty, icy composition of the rings, they have discovered tiny moons, near and even orbiting within the rings, sculpting the ring material into repeating waves, ropey filaments, and other intricate and beautiful patterns.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1915063\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1915063\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-800x605.jpg\" alt=\"Vertical structures in Saturn's rings rising up to a mile above the ring plane, kicked up by gravitational disturbance of a tiny "moonlet" orbiting within the rings. \" width=\"800\" height=\"605\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-800x605.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-160x121.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-768x580.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-1020x771.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-1180x892.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-960x725.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-240x181.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-375x283.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech-520x393.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/saturn-b-ring-spikes-nasa-cassini-jpl-caltech.jpg 1600w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Vertical structures in Saturn’s rings rising up to a mile above the ring plane, kicked up by gravitational disturbance of a tiny “moonlet” orbiting within the rings. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cassini has even seen, in some locations, vertical structures rising in rows of feathery, spiky fringe high above the rings. These features are caused by the passage of a tiny “moonlet” orbiting Saturn nearby, which disrupts the ring’s otherwise flat plane.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>An image taken in 2013, showing a bright “knot” within the outermost of Saturn’s bright rings, may prove to be a \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?release=2014-112\">new moon forming\u003c/a> out of the ring material. If so, then Cassini’s ring observations may tell us something about the formation of some of Saturn’s other small, icy moons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Titan: A Cold, Primordial Earth?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>One of the most intriguing characters in the Cassini-Huygens mission is \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/planets/titan\">Titan\u003c/a>. Saturn’s largest moon happens to be the only one in the solar system with a thick atmosphere. The Voyager missions, passing through the neighborhood in the 1980s, were the first to see Titan’s atmosphere and its obscuring shroud of hydrocarbon “smog.” Cassini, and the Huygens probe, however, have revealed it in rich detail.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though cold in the extreme, Titan’s dense nitrogen, hydrocarbon-infused atmosphere has proven to support a liquid cycle, analogous to Earth’s water cycle, but dealing in cryogenic liquid methane and ethane instead. Precipitation collecting in extensive river-like drainage networks feed into \u003ca href=\"http://m.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens/Profile_of_a_methane_sea_on_Titan\">large lakes and seas\u003c/a>, one comparable in surface area to Lake Superior in North America.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1915064\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1915064\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-800x763.jpg\" alt=\"Ligiea Mare, one of Titan's large liquid methane seas. The image shows river-like drainage channels flowing into the sea. \" width=\"800\" height=\"763\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-800x763.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-160x153.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-768x732.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-1020x972.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-1180x1125.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-960x915.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-240x229.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-375x357.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-520x496.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/751568main_pia17031b-full_full_Ligiea-Mare_NASAJPL-CaltechASICornell.jpg 1581w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ligiea Mare, one of Titan’s large liquid methane seas. The image shows river-like drainage channels flowing into the sea. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech/ASI/Cornell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Complex hydrocarbons are found on Titan, a product of photo-chemical interactions of sunlight and methane high in the atmosphere. These organic molecules form Titan’s “smog” layer, and precipitate downward to supply the liquid cycle on the surface. Though cold enough to liquefy methane–a gas on Earth–Titan has been likened to a primordial, pre-biotic Earth, and in studying it we may be catching glimpses of our own planet’s beginnings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Saturn Scrutinized at Close Range in Cassini’s Grand Finale Tour\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini is now in the final phase of its so-called “Grand Finale” tour, looping through a wildly eccentric polar orbit that sends it \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/2966/ring-grazing-orbits/\">skimming repeatedly between Saturn’s rings and cloud-tops\u003c/a>. This final and daring maneuver, Cassini’s “swan song” of Saturn exploration, is giving us our closest, most detailed vistas ever of the gas giant and its famous rings.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1915065\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1915065\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-800x602.jpg\" alt=\"An extreme close-up of Saturn's cloud tops captured by Cassini during one of its grazing "Grand Finale" passages between the planet and its rings. \" width=\"800\" height=\"602\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-800x602.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-160x120.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-768x578.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-1020x767.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-960x722.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-240x181.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-375x282.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech-520x391.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/pia21341-1041cassini_nasa-jpl-caltech.jpg 1041w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">An extreme close-up of Saturn’s cloud tops captured by Cassini during one of its grazing “Grand Finale” passages between the planet and its rings. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Cassini is also making magnetic and gravitational measurements during each close pass that promise to tell us something about Saturn’s internal structure. And, as it makes its ever-tightening swings closer to the atmosphere, it will ultimately sample the planet’s chemistry directly, becoming the first spacecraft to touch the skies of Saturn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>The Final Plunge\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>When Cassini finally plunges into Saturn, friction with the atmosphere will generate intense heat, and Cassini will be vaporized.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini’s planned incineration is a move by NASA to protect Saturn’s moons from accidental contamination by Earthly microorganisms that could be riding along. (Space agencies NASA and the ESA had also considered the potential for contamination of Titan by the Hugyens probe, but determined that the extremely low temperatures and lack of liquid water made the likelihood practically zero.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After 20 years in space (seven years traveling to Saturn and 13 years in orbit), Cassini is running low on the rocket fuel used to adjust its trajectory. Once its fuel is depleted, the spacecraft would otherwise become a derelict that could crash into a moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the possibility of life-friendly environments on at least one or two of Saturn’s moons, NASA’s end-of-mission ethic is to safely dispose of the spacecraft to eliminate that possibility.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"floatright"},"numeric":["floatright"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Farewell, Cassini, and thanks for all the wonders you have brought us!\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/1915056/cassinis-swan-song-greatest-hits-of-the-saturn-system","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28","science_40"],"tags":["science_498","science_503","science_3370","science_499","science_5175","science_501","science_502"],"featImg":"science_1915060","label":"science"},"science_1914502":{"type":"posts","id":"science_1914502","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"1914502","score":null,"sort":[1503075691000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"nasas-40-year-voyage-continues","title":"NASA's 40-year Voyage Continues","publishDate":1503075691,"format":"standard","headTitle":"NASA’s 40-year Voyage Continues | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"science"},"content":"\u003cp>Four decades ago, NASA launched two robotic spacecraft, \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/\">Voyagers 1 and 2\u003c/a>, on a mission to cruise by the giant planets of the outer solar system on sweeping trajectories that would ultimately carry them far beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, both spacecraft are still functioning, sending back data from the cold, dark reaches of the frontier of interstellar space. Voyager 2 is over 10.6 billion miles from the sun, 115 times farther than Earth. Voyager 1 is almost 13 billion miles out—a distance that takes radio signals, traveling at the speed of light, over 19 hours to traverse!\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1914508\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1914508\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Voyager 1 and 2 trajectories. Voyager 1 visited Jupiter and Saturn, and then veered northward off of the plane of our solar system. Voyager 2 visited all four giant planets of the outer solar system before departing southward toward interstellar space. \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Voyager 1 and 2 trajectories. Voyager 1 visited Jupiter and Saturn, and then veered northward off of the plane of our solar system. Voyager 2 visited all four giant planets of the outer solar system before departing southward toward interstellar space. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Voyager Mission Recap\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter11.html\">The Voyagers\u003c/a> were launched in 1977—Voyager 1 on September 5 and Voyager 2 on August 20, so their 40th anniversaries in space are close at hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voyager 1’s objective was to explore \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/mission/science/jupiter/\">Jupiter \u003c/a>and Saturn, and gave us our first detailed images of Jupiter’s four large Galilean moons. It also made a close flyby of Saturn’s largest moon, \u003ca href=\"http://www.drewexmachina.com/2015/11/12/voyager-1-the-first-close-encounter-with-titan/\">Titan\u003c/a>, giving us our first look at the moon’s cold, thick, hydrocarbon-smog-laced atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1914510\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1914510\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-800x636.jpg\" alt=\"A montage of Jupiter and its four Galilean moons captured by Voyager 1 in 1979. \" width=\"800\" height=\"636\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-800x636.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-160x127.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-768x610.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-1020x811.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-1920x1526.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-1180x938.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-960x763.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-240x191.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-375x298.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-520x413.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A montage of Jupiter and its four Galilean moons captured by Voyager 1 in 1979. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Voyager 2 also passed by Jupiter and Saturn, before cruising onward to the cold and mysterious “ice giant” worlds Uranus and Neptune—which still have not been visited by any other spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pushing the Frontiers of Space\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Upon completion of their primary missions, both Voyagers coasted onward to ever greater distances, having achieved escape velocity from the sun’s gravitation. And though they spent their earliest years of exploration traveling within the orbital plane of the solar system’s planets, the Voyagers’ final planetary encounters flung them in different directions. Voyager 1 is heading northward away from the plane of the solar system while Voyager 2 is going south.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1914516\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1914516\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration of the heliosphere--the region around our solar system under the influence by the solar wind--and its interaction with the environment of interstellar space. \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-520x293.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech.jpg 1820w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Illustration of the heliosphere–the region around our solar system under the influence by the solar wind–and its interaction with the environment of interstellar space. \u003ccite>(NASA./JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since leaving the realm of planets, the Voyagers have been monitoring the physical conditions within the \u003ca href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics/focus-areas/heliosphere\">\u003cem>heliosphere\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the extended “bubble” of gas, plasma, and magnetic fields emanating from the sun and blowing outward into space, called the solar wind. The goal of this extended phase of the Voyagers’ mission was to find the boundary between the solar wind’s influence and the environment of interstellar space: the \u003cem>heliopause\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From Earth, we cannot detect that boundary—much in the way that you cannot “see” the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space by standing on the ground and looking up. To find where space beings, you must send up a rocket to measure the pressure and temperature of the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voyager 1’s measurements of the solar wind tell us that in August 2012, it did in fact cross the heliopause and \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/2013/09/voyager-left-solar-system/\">enter the frontier of interstellar space\u003c/a>, becoming the first human artifact to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voyager 2 has not yet crossed the heliopause in the direction it is traveling, but when it does, researchers will receive data from two different points in the interstellar realm, which will offer a more detailed picture of the nature of space beyond the influence of the sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Built to Survive the Unknown\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How have these robotic explorers lasted so long? What machinery in your experience can last forty years with no maintenance, refueling, or recharging?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Voyagers had to last at least through their primary missions, which in Voyager 2’s case included encounters with four giant planets over a 10-year period. Engineers had to anticipate the harsh conditions their robots might encounter, and plan accordingly—even though the actual conditions around the target planets and in the vast stretches of space between them were largely unknown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1914512\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1914512\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-800x813.jpg\" alt=\"A Voyager spacecraft during tests in 1976. \" width=\"800\" height=\"813\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-800x813.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-160x163.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-768x781.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-1020x1037.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-1920x1952.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-1180x1200.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-960x976.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-240x244.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-375x381.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-520x529.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-64x64.jpg 64w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Voyager spacecraft during tests in 1976. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/mission/spacecraft/instruments/\">Voyagers’ sensitive equipment\u003c/a> and computer systems are heavily shielded against micrometeorite impacts and high-energy radiation. Critical systems were given multiple redundant backups, so that if a piece of equipment fails a backup duplicate will kick in to replace it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for their power supplies, the Voyagers are each equipped with three \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/rps/rtg.cfm\">radioisotope thermoelectric generators\u003c/a>, which generate electricity from heat produced by the decay of Plutonium-238. At the time of launch each trio of generators produced 470 Watts, though the output has declined steadily as the Plutonium decays. It is expected that by sometime between 2025 and 2030, power will have fallen below the level needed to run any of the Voyagers’ instruments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Messengers for ET? Good idea?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another ride-a-long feature on each Voyager is the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/golden-record/\">Golden Record\u003c/a>,” a gold-plated analog phonograph record carrying information about our world and species in a set of selected sounds and images. The records are intended as combination time capsules and greeting cards, in the event that either spacecraft is recovered by an intelligent alien civilization who can follow the graphical instructions inscribed on the record covers and extract the information on the disks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1914517\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1914517\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-800x1004.jpg\" alt=\"The cover of the Voyagers' "Golden Record" archive of Earth sounds and images, carried on each spacecraft as a greeting to possible alien civilizations. \" width=\"800\" height=\"1004\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-800x1004.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-160x201.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-768x964.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-1020x1280.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-1920x2410.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-1180x1481.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-960x1205.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-240x301.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-375x471.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-520x653.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cover of the Voyagers’ “Golden Record” archive of Earth sounds and images, carried on each spacecraft as a greeting to possible alien civilizations. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are some who feel it may not be a good idea to randomly fling information of our existence and location into space for any would-be aliens to find–for how could we possibly know what those aliens are like, and what they would do with the information?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the chances of recovery of the tiny, soon-to-be-derelict spacecraft in the vast expanse of interstellar space is exceedingly small, and neither are heading toward any star systems in the near or extended future. Voyager 1 is presently heading in the general direction of a star called Gliese 445, which it will pass within 1.6 light years of in about 40,000 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Voyagers 1 and 2 should continue to transmit home their measurements from the interstellar frontier, so may yet teach us a thing or two about our place in the cosmos.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"Four decades ago, NASA launched two robotic spacecraft, Voyagers 1 and 2, on a mission to cruise by the giant planets of the outer solar system on sweeping trajectories that would ultimately carry them far beyond. ","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704928425,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":24,"wordCount":1086},"headData":{"title":"NASA's 40-year Voyage Continues | KQED","description":"Four decades ago, NASA launched two robotic spacecraft, Voyagers 1 and 2, on a mission to cruise by the giant planets of the outer solar system on sweeping trajectories that would ultimately carry them far beyond. ","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"NASA's 40-year Voyage Continues","datePublished":"2017-08-18T17:01:31.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T23:13:45.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"sticky":false,"path":"/science/1914502/nasas-40-year-voyage-continues","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Four decades ago, NASA launched two robotic spacecraft, \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/\">Voyagers 1 and 2\u003c/a>, on a mission to cruise by the giant planets of the outer solar system on sweeping trajectories that would ultimately carry them far beyond.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Today, both spacecraft are still functioning, sending back data from the cold, dark reaches of the frontier of interstellar space. Voyager 2 is over 10.6 billion miles from the sun, 115 times farther than Earth. Voyager 1 is almost 13 billion miles out—a distance that takes radio signals, traveling at the speed of light, over 19 hours to traverse!\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1914508\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1914508\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Voyager 1 and 2 trajectories. Voyager 1 visited Jupiter and Saturn, and then veered northward off of the plane of our solar system. Voyager 2 visited all four giant planets of the outer solar system before departing southward toward interstellar space. \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/voyager-trajectories-520x293.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Voyager 1 and 2 trajectories. Voyager 1 visited Jupiter and Saturn, and then veered northward off of the plane of our solar system. Voyager 2 visited all four giant planets of the outer solar system before departing southward toward interstellar space. \u003ccite>(NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Voyager Mission Recap\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003ca href=\"https://history.nasa.gov/SP-4219/Chapter11.html\">The Voyagers\u003c/a> were launched in 1977—Voyager 1 on September 5 and Voyager 2 on August 20, so their 40th anniversaries in space are close at hand.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voyager 1’s objective was to explore \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/mission/science/jupiter/\">Jupiter \u003c/a>and Saturn, and gave us our first detailed images of Jupiter’s four large Galilean moons. It also made a close flyby of Saturn’s largest moon, \u003ca href=\"http://www.drewexmachina.com/2015/11/12/voyager-1-the-first-close-encounter-with-titan/\">Titan\u003c/a>, giving us our first look at the moon’s cold, thick, hydrocarbon-smog-laced atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1914510\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1914510\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-800x636.jpg\" alt=\"A montage of Jupiter and its four Galilean moons captured by Voyager 1 in 1979. \" width=\"800\" height=\"636\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-800x636.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-160x127.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-768x610.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-1020x811.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-1920x1526.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-1180x938.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-960x763.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-240x191.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-375x298.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/GPN-2000-000451-nasa-jpl-520x413.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A montage of Jupiter and its four Galilean moons captured by Voyager 1 in 1979. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Voyager 2 also passed by Jupiter and Saturn, before cruising onward to the cold and mysterious “ice giant” worlds Uranus and Neptune—which still have not been visited by any other spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Pushing the Frontiers of Space\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Upon completion of their primary missions, both Voyagers coasted onward to ever greater distances, having achieved escape velocity from the sun’s gravitation. And though they spent their earliest years of exploration traveling within the orbital plane of the solar system’s planets, the Voyagers’ final planetary encounters flung them in different directions. Voyager 1 is heading northward away from the plane of the solar system while Voyager 2 is going south.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1914516\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1914516\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"Illustration of the heliosphere--the region around our solar system under the influence by the solar wind--and its interaction with the environment of interstellar space. \" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-160x90.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-1020x574.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-240x135.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-375x211.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech-520x293.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA17048_hires-NASA-JPL-Caltech.jpg 1820w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Illustration of the heliosphere–the region around our solar system under the influence by the solar wind–and its interaction with the environment of interstellar space. \u003ccite>(NASA./JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Since leaving the realm of planets, the Voyagers have been monitoring the physical conditions within the \u003ca href=\"https://science.nasa.gov/heliophysics/focus-areas/heliosphere\">\u003cem>heliosphere\u003c/em>\u003c/a>, the extended “bubble” of gas, plasma, and magnetic fields emanating from the sun and blowing outward into space, called the solar wind. The goal of this extended phase of the Voyagers’ mission was to find the boundary between the solar wind’s influence and the environment of interstellar space: the \u003cem>heliopause\u003c/em>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From Earth, we cannot detect that boundary—much in the way that you cannot “see” the boundary between Earth’s atmosphere and outer space by standing on the ground and looking up. To find where space beings, you must send up a rocket to measure the pressure and temperature of the air.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voyager 1’s measurements of the solar wind tell us that in August 2012, it did in fact cross the heliopause and \u003ca href=\"https://www.wired.com/2013/09/voyager-left-solar-system/\">enter the frontier of interstellar space\u003c/a>, becoming the first human artifact to do so.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Voyager 2 has not yet crossed the heliopause in the direction it is traveling, but when it does, researchers will receive data from two different points in the interstellar realm, which will offer a more detailed picture of the nature of space beyond the influence of the sun.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Built to Survive the Unknown\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How have these robotic explorers lasted so long? What machinery in your experience can last forty years with no maintenance, refueling, or recharging?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Voyagers had to last at least through their primary missions, which in Voyager 2’s case included encounters with four giant planets over a 10-year period. Engineers had to anticipate the harsh conditions their robots might encounter, and plan accordingly—even though the actual conditions around the target planets and in the vast stretches of space between them were largely unknown.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1914512\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1914512\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-800x813.jpg\" alt=\"A Voyager spacecraft during tests in 1976. \" width=\"800\" height=\"813\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-800x813.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-160x163.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-768x781.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-1020x1037.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-1920x1952.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-1180x1200.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-960x976.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-240x244.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-375x381.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-520x529.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-50x50.jpg 50w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/PIA21732-nasa-jpl-caltech-64x64.jpg 64w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">A Voyager spacecraft during tests in 1976. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/mission/spacecraft/instruments/\">Voyagers’ sensitive equipment\u003c/a> and computer systems are heavily shielded against micrometeorite impacts and high-energy radiation. Critical systems were given multiple redundant backups, so that if a piece of equipment fails a backup duplicate will kick in to replace it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As for their power supplies, the Voyagers are each equipped with three \u003ca href=\"https://solarsystem.nasa.gov/rps/rtg.cfm\">radioisotope thermoelectric generators\u003c/a>, which generate electricity from heat produced by the decay of Plutonium-238. At the time of launch each trio of generators produced 470 Watts, though the output has declined steadily as the Plutonium decays. It is expected that by sometime between 2025 and 2030, power will have fallen below the level needed to run any of the Voyagers’ instruments.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Messengers for ET? Good idea?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Another ride-a-long feature on each Voyager is the “\u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/voyager/golden-record/\">Golden Record\u003c/a>,” a gold-plated analog phonograph record carrying information about our world and species in a set of selected sounds and images. The records are intended as combination time capsules and greeting cards, in the event that either spacecraft is recovered by an intelligent alien civilization who can follow the graphical instructions inscribed on the record covers and extract the information on the disks.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1914517\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1914517\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-800x1004.jpg\" alt=\"The cover of the Voyagers' "Golden Record" archive of Earth sounds and images, carried on each spacecraft as a greeting to possible alien civilizations. \" width=\"800\" height=\"1004\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-800x1004.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-160x201.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-768x964.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-1020x1280.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-1920x2410.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-1180x1481.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-960x1205.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-240x301.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-375x471.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/08/154342main_image_feature_631_ys_full-520x653.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The cover of the Voyagers’ “Golden Record” archive of Earth sounds and images, carried on each spacecraft as a greeting to possible alien civilizations. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>There are some who feel it may not be a good idea to randomly fling information of our existence and location into space for any would-be aliens to find–for how could we possibly know what those aliens are like, and what they would do with the information?\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still, the chances of recovery of the tiny, soon-to-be-derelict spacecraft in the vast expanse of interstellar space is exceedingly small, and neither are heading toward any star systems in the near or extended future. Voyager 1 is presently heading in the general direction of a star called Gliese 445, which it will pass within 1.6 light years of in about 40,000 years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, Voyagers 1 and 2 should continue to transmit home their measurements from the interstellar frontier, so may yet teach us a thing or two about our place in the cosmos.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/1914502/nasas-40-year-voyage-continues","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28"],"tags":["science_5180","science_5175","science_501","science_502","science_1028"],"featImg":"science_1914507","label":"science"},"science_1586143":{"type":"posts","id":"science_1586143","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"1586143","score":null,"sort":[1493395257000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"on-the-eve-of-retirement-cassini-to-deliver-final-images-of-saturn","title":"On the Eve of Retirement, Cassini to Deliver Final Images of Saturn","publishDate":1493395257,"format":"standard","headTitle":"On the Eve of Retirement, Cassini to Deliver Final Images of Saturn | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"science"},"content":"\u003cp>Between \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/overview/\">now and September\u003c/a>, NASA’s \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cassini spacecraft\u003c/a> will engage in its most daring and breathtaking flybys of Saturn and its rings yet, passing between the rings’ inner edge and the cloud tops of Saturn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, Cassini made blockbuster news when NASA scientists announced the detection of life-nourishing chemicals in plumes of water vapor erupting from within the tiny moon \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/enceladus/\">Enceladus\u003c/a>. It comes 13 years after the robot started an epic career exploring the Saturn system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since early in Cassini’s tour, a billion miles from the sun, evidence of liquid water on Enceladus has tantalized our curiosity. In 2005, Cassini discovered plumes of water vapor erupting from crevasses in the icy crust of the tiny moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, Cassini passed through one of the geyser plumes and detected traces of ammonia, which provided more hints of what’s going on below the outer icy crust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1586254\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 487px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1586254 \" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-800x1035.jpg\" alt=\"Chemical analysis by Cassini of Enceladus' water vapor plumes indicates strongly that there may be hydrothermal vents on the moon's ocean floor. \" width=\"487\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-800x1035.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-160x207.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-768x994.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-1020x1320.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-1180x1527.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-960x1243.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-240x311.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-375x485.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-520x673.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 487px) 100vw, 487px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassini’s chemical analysis of Enceladus’ water vapor plumes strongly suggests there may be hydrothermal vents on the moon’s ocean floor. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech/SRI)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Further measurements suggest that the source of Enceladus’ chemical-tainted “geysers” is probably a hidden ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And now, the detection of molecular hydrogen in the plumes points to the likelihood that there are hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, spewing out heat and chemicals from the moon’s deeper interior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enceladus is too small to have retained molecular hydrogen from its formation in its outermost layers of ice and water, so the source likely comes from supplies trapped deeper within.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hydrothermal vents on the cold, dark floor of Earth’s ocean supply the heat and chemical fuel for thriving communities of lifeforms, so Cassini’s discovery increases the chances that Enceladus might support life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cassini’s Swan Song?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The news of life-nourishing chemicals on Enceladus comes after Cassini’s final close flyby of the moon, as Cassini steers into a trajectory that brings it daringly close to Saturn and its rings, and toward a planned burn-up in the gas giant’s atmosphere in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why is NASA deliberately driving its flagship planet-exploring robot toward a fiery end-of-mission incineration? The answer, in short, is that Cassini’s rocket fuel is almost depleted. Once its fuel tanks run dry, NASA will no longer be able to control the spacecraft’s trajectory, and it would become a derelict, bearing radioactive Plutonium-238 in its electrical generator system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1586255\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1586255\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Long, deep crevasses at Enceladus' southern polar region--dubbed "Tiger Stripes"--are the site where water vapor plumes erupt through the moon's icy crust.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-520x347.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Long, deep crevasses at Enceladus’ southern polar region–dubbed “Tiger Stripes”–are the site where water vapor plumes erupt through the moon’s icy crust. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech/SSI/LPI)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the possibility that some form of life exists on at least one of Saturn’s moons, NASA is opting to safely destroy Cassini rather than risk it crashing onto a life-bearing world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, Cassini’s initial launch from Earth about 20 years ago raised protests from some, who felt that the risk of a launch explosion that would spread Plutonium through Earth’s atmosphere was unacceptable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately the launch was a success. Now, two decades later, a burn-up on Saturn will close this chapter of space exploration that includes a plethora of breathtaking discoveries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Highlights of Cassini-Huygens’ Discoveries\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding water and signs of a life-friendly environment on Enceladus are not the only things \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/why-cassini-matters/\">Cassini revealed in the Saturn system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1586257\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 421px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1586257\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-800x763.jpg\" alt=\"Ligiea Mare, one of Titan's liquid methane seas. \" width=\"421\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-800x763.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-160x153.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-768x732.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-1020x972.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-1180x1125.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-960x915.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-240x229.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-375x357.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-520x496.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare.jpg 1581w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 421px) 100vw, 421px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ligiea Mare, one of Titan’s liquid methane seas. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech/ASI/Cornell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Early in its mission, in 2005, Cassini deposited the European probe Huygens onto Saturn’s largest moon, \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/titan/\">Titan\u003c/a>, the first—and so far only—landing on a moon other than Earth’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the atmospheric data collected by Huygens, and optical and infrared pictures taken by Cassini during flybys, Titan has been revealed as a fascinating world. Though its surface and atmosphere are cold in the extreme, Titan possesses an atmosphere of mostly nitrogen that is thicker than our own, with a dense shroud of methane and ethane “smog.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even more incredible—Titan’s atmosphere supports a cryogenic liquid cycle analogous to Earth’s water cycle, but with rain, rivers and lakes composed of liquid methane. And, deep under Titan’s solid crust there may be an ocean of liquid water. Cassini made its \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6825&utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NASAJPL&utm_content=daily20170424-1\">last close flyby of Titan\u003c/a> on April 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini’s other accomplishments include investigating Saturn’s varied and unique moons, the complex patterns and icy dust composition of its ring system, and exploring the gas giant Saturn itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saturn’s atmosphere is a dazzling and complex environment of swirling storm systems, cloud belts, aurora activity, and an enigmatic hexagonal cloud cell centered on its pole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1586256\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1586256\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/saturn_pole_nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi.jpg\" alt=\"Saturn's pole is encircled by an enigmatic hexagonal cloud system, punctuated at the center by a circular "eye".\" width=\"700\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/saturn_pole_nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi.jpg 700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/saturn_pole_nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-160x137.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/saturn_pole_nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-240x206.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/saturn_pole_nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-375x321.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/saturn_pole_nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-520x446.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saturn’s pole is encircled by an enigmatic hexagonal cloud system, punctuated at the center by a circular “eye”. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech/SSI)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rich Rewards for the Daring\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Cassini enters its final orbits that will carry it within the ring system, through Saturn’s upper atmosphere, and then finally to its terminal plunge through Saturn’s skies, the spacecraft will collect and transmit data to Earth about the rings and atmosphere that could never be achieved from wider, less risky trajectories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists hope to learn more about Saturn’s magnetic and gravitational fields, which can give insights into Saturn’s interior structure and dynamics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Closer inspection of the rings will give us a better assessment of how much material they contain, and stronger clues to how they originally formed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, we’ll get to see the clouds and storm systems of Saturn’s atmosphere closer than ever before. Who knows what we may see…\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"This year, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will engage in its most daring and breathtaking flybys yet.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704928797,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":28,"wordCount":993},"headData":{"title":"On the Eve of Retirement, Cassini to Deliver Final Images of Saturn | KQED","description":"This year, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will engage in its most daring and breathtaking flybys yet.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"On the Eve of Retirement, Cassini to Deliver Final Images of Saturn","datePublished":"2017-04-28T16:00:57.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T23:19:57.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"sticky":false,"path":"/science/1586143/on-the-eve-of-retirement-cassini-to-deliver-final-images-of-saturn","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Between \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/overview/\">now and September\u003c/a>, NASA’s \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cassini spacecraft\u003c/a> will engage in its most daring and breathtaking flybys of Saturn and its rings yet, passing between the rings’ inner edge and the cloud tops of Saturn.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Last month, Cassini made blockbuster news when NASA scientists announced the detection of life-nourishing chemicals in plumes of water vapor erupting from within the tiny moon \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/enceladus/\">Enceladus\u003c/a>. It comes 13 years after the robot started an epic career exploring the Saturn system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Since early in Cassini’s tour, a billion miles from the sun, evidence of liquid water on Enceladus has tantalized our curiosity. In 2005, Cassini discovered plumes of water vapor erupting from crevasses in the icy crust of the tiny moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Later, Cassini passed through one of the geyser plumes and detected traces of ammonia, which provided more hints of what’s going on below the outer icy crust.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1586254\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 487px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"wp-image-1586254 \" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-800x1035.jpg\" alt=\"Chemical analysis by Cassini of Enceladus' water vapor plumes indicates strongly that there may be hydrothermal vents on the moon's ocean floor. \" width=\"487\" height=\"630\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-800x1035.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-160x207.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-768x994.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-1020x1320.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-1180x1527.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-960x1243.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-240x311.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-375x485.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri-520x673.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-ocean-nasa-jpl-caltech-sri.jpg 1400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 487px) 100vw, 487px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Cassini’s chemical analysis of Enceladus’ water vapor plumes strongly suggests there may be hydrothermal vents on the moon’s ocean floor. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech/SRI)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Further measurements suggest that the source of Enceladus’ chemical-tainted “geysers” is probably a hidden ocean.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And now, the detection of molecular hydrogen in the plumes points to the likelihood that there are hydrothermal vents on the ocean floor, spewing out heat and chemicals from the moon’s deeper interior.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Enceladus is too small to have retained molecular hydrogen from its formation in its outermost layers of ice and water, so the source likely comes from supplies trapped deeper within.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Hydrothermal vents on the cold, dark floor of Earth’s ocean supply the heat and chemical fuel for thriving communities of lifeforms, so Cassini’s discovery increases the chances that Enceladus might support life.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Cassini’s Swan Song?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The news of life-nourishing chemicals on Enceladus comes after Cassini’s final close flyby of the moon, as Cassini steers into a trajectory that brings it daringly close to Saturn and its rings, and toward a planned burn-up in the gas giant’s atmosphere in September.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Why is NASA deliberately driving its flagship planet-exploring robot toward a fiery end-of-mission incineration? The answer, in short, is that Cassini’s rocket fuel is almost depleted. Once its fuel tanks run dry, NASA will no longer be able to control the spacecraft’s trajectory, and it would become a derelict, bearing radioactive Plutonium-238 in its electrical generator system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1586255\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-1586255\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-800x533.jpg\" alt=\"Long, deep crevasses at Enceladus' southern polar region--dubbed "Tiger Stripes"--are the site where water vapor plumes erupt through the moon's icy crust.\" width=\"800\" height=\"533\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-800x533.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-160x107.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-768x512.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-1020x680.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-1180x787.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-960x640.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-240x160.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-375x250.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi-520x347.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/enceladus-tigerstripes-nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-lpi.jpg 1200w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Long, deep crevasses at Enceladus’ southern polar region–dubbed “Tiger Stripes”–are the site where water vapor plumes erupt through the moon’s icy crust. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech/SSI/LPI)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>With the possibility that some form of life exists on at least one of Saturn’s moons, NASA is opting to safely destroy Cassini rather than risk it crashing onto a life-bearing world.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In fact, Cassini’s initial launch from Earth about 20 years ago raised protests from some, who felt that the risk of a launch explosion that would spread Plutonium through Earth’s atmosphere was unacceptable.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Fortunately the launch was a success. Now, two decades later, a burn-up on Saturn will close this chapter of space exploration that includes a plethora of breathtaking discoveries.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Highlights of Cassini-Huygens’ Discoveries\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Finding water and signs of a life-friendly environment on Enceladus are not the only things \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/grand-finale/why-cassini-matters/\">Cassini revealed in the Saturn system\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1586257\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 421px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-1586257\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-800x763.jpg\" alt=\"Ligiea Mare, one of Titan's liquid methane seas. \" width=\"421\" height=\"402\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-800x763.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-160x153.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-768x732.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-1020x972.jpg 1020w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-1180x1125.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-960x915.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-240x229.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-375x357.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-520x496.jpg 520w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/ligiea-mare.jpg 1581w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 421px) 100vw, 421px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Ligiea Mare, one of Titan’s liquid methane seas. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech/ASI/Cornell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Early in its mission, in 2005, Cassini deposited the European probe Huygens onto Saturn’s largest moon, \u003ca href=\"https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/titan/\">Titan\u003c/a>, the first—and so far only—landing on a moon other than Earth’s.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>From the atmospheric data collected by Huygens, and optical and infrared pictures taken by Cassini during flybys, Titan has been revealed as a fascinating world. Though its surface and atmosphere are cold in the extreme, Titan possesses an atmosphere of mostly nitrogen that is thicker than our own, with a dense shroud of methane and ethane “smog.”\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Even more incredible—Titan’s atmosphere supports a cryogenic liquid cycle analogous to Earth’s water cycle, but with rain, rivers and lakes composed of liquid methane. And, deep under Titan’s solid crust there may be an ocean of liquid water. Cassini made its \u003ca href=\"https://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6825&utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NASAJPL&utm_content=daily20170424-1\">last close flyby of Titan\u003c/a> on April 22.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini’s other accomplishments include investigating Saturn’s varied and unique moons, the complex patterns and icy dust composition of its ring system, and exploring the gas giant Saturn itself.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Saturn’s atmosphere is a dazzling and complex environment of swirling storm systems, cloud belts, aurora activity, and an enigmatic hexagonal cloud cell centered on its pole.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_1586256\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 700px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-1586256\" src=\"https://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/saturn_pole_nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi.jpg\" alt=\"Saturn's pole is encircled by an enigmatic hexagonal cloud system, punctuated at the center by a circular "eye".\" width=\"700\" height=\"600\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/saturn_pole_nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi.jpg 700w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/saturn_pole_nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-160x137.jpg 160w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/saturn_pole_nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-240x206.jpg 240w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/saturn_pole_nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-375x321.jpg 375w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2017/04/saturn_pole_nasa-jpl-caltech-ssi-520x446.jpg 520w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 700px) 100vw, 700px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saturn’s pole is encircled by an enigmatic hexagonal cloud system, punctuated at the center by a circular “eye”. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-CalTech/SSI)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Rich Rewards for the Daring\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>As Cassini enters its final orbits that will carry it within the ring system, through Saturn’s upper atmosphere, and then finally to its terminal plunge through Saturn’s skies, the spacecraft will collect and transmit data to Earth about the rings and atmosphere that could never be achieved from wider, less risky trajectories.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Scientists hope to learn more about Saturn’s magnetic and gravitational fields, which can give insights into Saturn’s interior structure and dynamics.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Closer inspection of the rings will give us a better assessment of how much material they contain, and stronger clues to how they originally formed.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And, we’ll get to see the clouds and storm systems of Saturn’s atmosphere closer than ever before. Who knows what we may see…\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/1586143/on-the-eve-of-retirement-cassini-to-deliver-final-images-of-saturn","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28","science_40"],"tags":["science_498","science_503","science_1216","science_499","science_5175","science_502"],"featImg":"science_1586253","label":"science"},"science_923355":{"type":"posts","id":"science_923355","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"923355","score":null,"sort":[1471629839000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"where-else-in-the-universe-can-you-find-fjords-on-this-distant-moon","title":"Where Else in the Universe Can You Find Fjords? On This Distant Moon","publishDate":1471629839,"format":"image","headTitle":"Where Else in the Universe Can You Find Fjords? On This Distant Moon | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"science"},"content":"\u003cp>Still orbiting Saturn after twelve years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cassini\u003c/a> continues to surprise and delight us with its discoveries. Findings by the NASA spacecraft suggest that Saturn’s moon Titan contains deep, liquid-flooded canyons that may resemble fjords and alpine lakes on Earth. Titan is arguably one of the most interesting moons in the solar system, the only one with a thick atmosphere, in fact made of nitrogen and thicker than Earth’s!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May 2013, Cassini made a close flyby of Titan, focusing its attention on \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia16197.html\">Vid Flumina\u003c/a>, a Nile-like river valley, connected to the sea \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia20021/mystery-feature-evolves-in-titans-ligeia-mare\">Ligeia Mare\u003c/a>. Apparent drainage networks have been seen in many areas on Titan, mostly in connection with a lake or sea. However, Vid Flumina is a system of narrow, deep and steep-walled canyons. Some sections are 1,870 feet deep with walls sloped at 40 degrees — even steeper than San Francisco’s famous \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_Street_(San_Francisco)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lombard Street\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini’s radar took \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6589&utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NASAJPL&utm_content=daily20160809-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the measurements\u003c/a>, although normally it creates images of Titan’s surface, pinging the moon with radio pulses and composing pictures based on the signal strength bouncing off the topography. Areas with varying amounts of slope and degrees of smoothness appear different in the radar data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_923357\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-923357\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/titan_liquid_canyon.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of a body of liquid methane and ethane in a canyon on Saturn's moon, Titan.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/titan_liquid_canyon.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/titan_liquid_canyon-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/titan_liquid_canyon-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of a body of liquid methane and ethane in a canyon on Saturn’s moon, Titan. \u003ccite>(JPL/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The radar imaging technique has given us wonderful birds-eye views of Titan’s landscape hidden from Cassini’s visible-light cameras under a thick shroud of hydrocarbon haze. For years we have enjoyed scenes of high and rugged mountainous terrain, vast plains of dunes, dendritic networks of river-like channel systems and the wide, flat, incredibly smooth surfaces of numerous lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, during the May 2013 flyby, Cassini’s radar worked as an altimeter, measuring the elevations of terrain in and around the Vid Flumina complex. This “echolocation” method not only revealed the steepness of the canyon walls and the depth of the channels, but in a number of spots it also revealed “flashes” or glints of sharply reflected radar as if the radio waves were reflecting from a very smooth, very flat and level surface — like a body of liquid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This detection is the first direct evidence of pooled liquid in any canyon or drainage channel system on this cold and dynamic moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still more, the measured altitude of the liquid surfaces in some of these canyons was at sea level, while in other canyons they were hundreds of feet higher. Might the sea-level liquid channels in the deep, steep-walled canyons resemble Norway’s fjords, and the higher-altitude pockets the pooling of alpine lakes in deep river canyons on Earth?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_923358\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-923358\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/PIA20021-16.gif\" alt=\"Radar image of the hydrocarbon sea Ligeia Mare (right) and the drainage system complex Vid Flumina (upper left). The white circles show locations where radar reflections indicate surfaces of pooled liquid.\" width=\"1400\" height=\"788\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Radar image of the hydrocarbon sea Ligeia Mare (right) and the drainage system complex Vid Flumina (upper left). The white circles show locations where radar reflections indicate surfaces of pooled liquid. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/Cornell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What a sight they must be! The only direct images we have from Titan’s surface came from the short-lived \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Highlights/Ten_years_at_Titan\">Huygens probe\u003c/a> in 2005, and tantalizing as that glimpse was, the terrain at the probe’s landing site was flat and dry. I will not say boring, it was anything but!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The depth of these likely liquid-carved canyons tells us that they were either carved by erosion over a long period of time, or were cut quickly by processes we don’t yet fully understand. Scientists are considering several possible means for their formation, including uplifted land or a changing sea level — or possibly both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Titan is one of the only bodies in the solar system, moon or planet, with an active liquid cycle on its surface. It’s a version of Earth’s water cycle, but at freezing temperatures where water is like solid rock, and hydrocarbons like methane and ethane play the role of liquid. And more and more, it appears that Titan’s topographical features in many cases bear a strong resemblance to terrains found on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini may give us only a few more glimpses of Titan, as well as Saturn and some of its other fascinating moons, before the mission is terminated next year when Cassini will be driven deliberately into Saturn’s atmosphere in an incinerating blaze of glory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA doesn’t want to leave a piece of derelict space junk with decaying plutonium power cells flying around the Saturn system, which for all we know may be home to \u003ca href=\"https://astronomynow.com/2015/03/01/life-not-as-we-know-it-possible-on-saturns-moon-titan/\">some form of life\u003c/a> — especially those moons, like Enceladus, where we have detected the presence of liquid water.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"NASA's Cassini spacecraft is still exploring Saturn's moon Titan and has found topographical features that resemblance those found on Earth.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704929747,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":14,"wordCount":808},"headData":{"title":"Where Else in the Universe Can You Find Fjords? On This Distant Moon | KQED","description":"NASA's Cassini spacecraft is still exploring Saturn's moon Titan and has found topographical features that resemblance those found on Earth.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"Where Else in the Universe Can You Find Fjords? On This Distant Moon","datePublished":"2016-08-19T18:03:59.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T23:35:47.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"sticky":false,"path":"/science/923355/where-else-in-the-universe-can-you-find-fjords-on-this-distant-moon","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>Still orbiting Saturn after twelve years, \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/index.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Cassini\u003c/a> continues to surprise and delight us with its discoveries. Findings by the NASA spacecraft suggest that Saturn’s moon Titan contains deep, liquid-flooded canyons that may resemble fjords and alpine lakes on Earth. Titan is arguably one of the most interesting moons in the solar system, the only one with a thick atmosphere, in fact made of nitrogen and thicker than Earth’s!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In May 2013, Cassini made a close flyby of Titan, focusing its attention on \u003ca href=\"http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/multimedia/pia16197.html\">Vid Flumina\u003c/a>, a Nile-like river valley, connected to the sea \u003ca href=\"https://www.nasa.gov/image-feature/jpl/pia20021/mystery-feature-evolves-in-titans-ligeia-mare\">Ligeia Mare\u003c/a>. Apparent drainage networks have been seen in many areas on Titan, mostly in connection with a lake or sea. However, Vid Flumina is a system of narrow, deep and steep-walled canyons. Some sections are 1,870 feet deep with walls sloped at 40 degrees — even steeper than San Francisco’s famous \u003ca href=\"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lombard_Street_(San_Francisco)\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Lombard Street\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini’s radar took \u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=6589&utm_source=iContact&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=NASAJPL&utm_content=daily20160809-1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">the measurements\u003c/a>, although normally it creates images of Titan’s surface, pinging the moon with radio pulses and composing pictures based on the signal strength bouncing off the topography. Areas with varying amounts of slope and degrees of smoothness appear different in the radar data.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_923357\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-923357\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/titan_liquid_canyon.jpg\" alt=\"Artist concept of a body of liquid methane and ethane in a canyon on Saturn's moon, Titan.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/titan_liquid_canyon.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/titan_liquid_canyon-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/titan_liquid_canyon-768x432.jpg 768w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Artist concept of a body of liquid methane and ethane in a canyon on Saturn’s moon, Titan. \u003ccite>(JPL/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The radar imaging technique has given us wonderful birds-eye views of Titan’s landscape hidden from Cassini’s visible-light cameras under a thick shroud of hydrocarbon haze. For years we have enjoyed scenes of high and rugged mountainous terrain, vast plains of dunes, dendritic networks of river-like channel systems and the wide, flat, incredibly smooth surfaces of numerous lakes and seas of liquid hydrocarbons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, during the May 2013 flyby, Cassini’s radar worked as an altimeter, measuring the elevations of terrain in and around the Vid Flumina complex. This “echolocation” method not only revealed the steepness of the canyon walls and the depth of the channels, but in a number of spots it also revealed “flashes” or glints of sharply reflected radar as if the radio waves were reflecting from a very smooth, very flat and level surface — like a body of liquid.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This detection is the first direct evidence of pooled liquid in any canyon or drainage channel system on this cold and dynamic moon.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Still more, the measured altitude of the liquid surfaces in some of these canyons was at sea level, while in other canyons they were hundreds of feet higher. Might the sea-level liquid channels in the deep, steep-walled canyons resemble Norway’s fjords, and the higher-altitude pockets the pooling of alpine lakes in deep river canyons on Earth?\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_923358\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 1400px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-923358\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/08/PIA20021-16.gif\" alt=\"Radar image of the hydrocarbon sea Ligeia Mare (right) and the drainage system complex Vid Flumina (upper left). The white circles show locations where radar reflections indicate surfaces of pooled liquid.\" width=\"1400\" height=\"788\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Radar image of the hydrocarbon sea Ligeia Mare (right) and the drainage system complex Vid Flumina (upper left). The white circles show locations where radar reflections indicate surfaces of pooled liquid. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI/Cornell)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>What a sight they must be! The only direct images we have from Titan’s surface came from the short-lived \u003ca href=\"http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Highlights/Ten_years_at_Titan\">Huygens probe\u003c/a> in 2005, and tantalizing as that glimpse was, the terrain at the probe’s landing site was flat and dry. I will not say boring, it was anything but!\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The depth of these likely liquid-carved canyons tells us that they were either carved by erosion over a long period of time, or were cut quickly by processes we don’t yet fully understand. Scientists are considering several possible means for their formation, including uplifted land or a changing sea level — or possibly both.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Titan is one of the only bodies in the solar system, moon or planet, with an active liquid cycle on its surface. It’s a version of Earth’s water cycle, but at freezing temperatures where water is like solid rock, and hydrocarbons like methane and ethane play the role of liquid. And more and more, it appears that Titan’s topographical features in many cases bear a strong resemblance to terrains found on Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini may give us only a few more glimpses of Titan, as well as Saturn and some of its other fascinating moons, before the mission is terminated next year when Cassini will be driven deliberately into Saturn’s atmosphere in an incinerating blaze of glory.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>NASA doesn’t want to leave a piece of derelict space junk with decaying plutonium power cells flying around the Saturn system, which for all we know may be home to \u003ca href=\"https://astronomynow.com/2015/03/01/life-not-as-we-know-it-possible-on-saturns-moon-titan/\">some form of life\u003c/a> — especially those moons, like Enceladus, where we have detected the presence of liquid water.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/923355/where-else-in-the-universe-can-you-find-fjords-on-this-distant-moon","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28","science_40"],"tags":["science_498","science_499","science_5175","science_502"],"featImg":"science_923361","label":"science"},"science_605319":{"type":"posts","id":"science_605319","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"605319","score":null,"sort":[1459515648000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"what-mysterious-forces-are-creating-mountains-on-titan","title":"What Mysterious Forces Are Creating Mountains on Titan?","publishDate":1459515648,"format":"standard","headTitle":"What Mysterious Forces Are Creating Mountains on Titan? | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"science"},"content":"\u003cp>In the winding-down period of its more than 12-year mission exploring the Saturn system, \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Cassini\u003c/a> spacecraft has spotted the tallest mountain of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, a peak in the Mithrim Montes range near the equator that rises over two miles above the moon’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cassini spacecraft measured the peaks of Mithrim Montes using its radar instrument to penetrate the layers of thick, smoggy haze in Titan’s atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The highest of the peaks is 10,948 feet high, and most of Titan’s highest peaks, which are found near the equator, are close to 10,000 feet tall. Comparably high mountains on Earth include Cathedral Peak in Yosemite, Mount Lassen, and Telescope Peak in Death Valley National Park (whose entire height, from sea level to summit, can be viewed in \u003ca href=\"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Telescope_Peak_from_Badwater_2.jpg/1280px-Telescope_Peak_from_Badwater_2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one stunning vista from the valley floor\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Extreme Mountaineering\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The discovery of nature’s geological extremes—extreme heights, extreme depths, extreme scales—is something that may excite the adventurous spirit in us all. However, scientists have a more practical purpose for taking such measurements, in this case probing the origins and understanding the forces that form the \u003ca href=\"https://penningtonplanetarium.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/the-9-tallest-mountains-in-the-solar-system/comment-page-1/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">solar system’s highest mountain ranges\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_605409\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 301px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-605409\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Continental-continental_convergence_Fig21contcont.gif\" alt=\"Example of a mountain range uplifted by the collision of two continental tectonic plates, as with Earth's Himalaya Mountain Range. \" width=\"301\" height=\"173\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Example of a mountain range uplifted by the collision of two continental tectonic plates, as with Earth’s Himalaya Mountain Range. \u003ccite>(Public Domain)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though one might climb a mountain “because it’s there,” the mountains themselves are there for a more concrete reason. Mountains are structures formed by dynamic forces that actively push them upward—for example, the collision of tectonic plates, which is the driving force uplifting Earth’s tallest mountain ranges. Volcanism is another process that builds mountains. And, on some worlds, like the planet Mercury, uplifted features may be formed when the planet or moon cools and contracts, and wrinkles form on its surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mountains, Young and Old\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On planets and moons with atmospheres—in particular, those with active surface weathering processes—mountains gradually wear down as erosion scours their surfaces. On Earth, the towering Himalayas, Andes, and Rocky Mountains are examples of relatively young mountain ranges pushed upward by the collisions of crustal tectonic plates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_605410\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-605410\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"The Appalachian Mountains, once as high and mighty as the Alps or the Rockies, have eroded over hundreds of millions of years to low, gentle ridges and peaks.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Appalachian Mountains, once as high and mighty as the Alps or the Rockies, have eroded over hundreds of millions of years to low, gentle ridges and peaks. \u003ccite>(Public Domain)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Appalachian Mountains along the east coast of North America, today a gentle range whose highest points are less than 7,000 feet above sea level, have been weathered down since their formation 480 million years ago. In its heyday, however, the Appalachians were a mighty range comparable to the Alps and the Rockies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What Is at Work Under Titan’s Surface?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The presence of \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/feature20160324/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Titan’s tall mountains\u003c/a> is intriguing, particularly in light of the fact that Titan’s thick atmosphere and erosive weather cycle of liquid-methane precipitation and runoff are at work wearing them down. This suggests that some active process may have raised the mountains relatively recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Candidates for the mountain-building forces responsible for Titan’s ranges include tectonic activity driven by a deep subsurface ocean of water that Titan’s crust floats on, tidal effects from Saturn’s gravity, or the contracting of the moon’s surface as it cools. By studying their size, location, and distribution, scientists hope to learn which of these processes might be the culprit, and how it may still be shaping Titan’s surface today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ranging Across the Solar System\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_605407\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-605407\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/PIA20023-16-640x350.jpg\" alt=\"Radar image made by NASA's Cassini spacecraft of the Mithrim Montes range, where Titan's tallest peak is located.\" width=\"640\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/PIA20023-16-640x350.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/PIA20023-16-640x350-400x219.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Radar image made by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft of the Mithrim Montes range, where Titan’s tallest peak is located. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Throughout the solar system we explore the tallest mountains and mountain ranges of many planets and moons in order to reveal unseen processes masked by their surfaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pluto’s \u003ca href=\"http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150718.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Norgay Montes\u003c/a> tower 11,000 feet high, while Mercury’s \u003ca href=\"http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?image_id=503\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Caloris Montes\u003c/a> reaches a similar 10,032 feet. On Venus, \u003ca href=\"http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/mgn_c260n033_2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maxwell Montes\u003c/a>, whose origin is still under debate, climbs to 35,904 feet. On Mars, the vast shield volcano \u003ca href=\"http://www.windows2universe.org/mars/places/olympus_mons.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Olympus Mons\u003c/a>—the highest mountain in the solar system—rises a breathtaking 69,650 feet above the Martian surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earth’s own Mount Everest, at 29,029 feet above sea level, along with the entire Himalayan mountain range, was uplifted by the collision of the Indo-Australian and the Eurasian crustal plates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cassini mission is coming to a close. In September 2017, the spacecraft will be deliberately de-orbited and burn up in the atmosphere of Saturn, ending a 13-year expedition of remarkable discovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between now and then, Cassini will make about dozen close flybys of Titan, so there’s still time for a few more long-distance extreme-mountaineering runs….\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spotted the tallest mountain of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, that rises over two miles above the moon's surface.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704930415,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":20,"wordCount":823},"headData":{"title":"What Mysterious Forces Are Creating Mountains on Titan? | KQED","description":"NASA's Cassini spacecraft has spotted the tallest mountain of Saturn's largest moon, Titan, that rises over two miles above the moon's surface.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"What Mysterious Forces Are Creating Mountains on Titan?","datePublished":"2016-04-01T13:00:48.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-10T23:46:55.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"sticky":false,"path":"/science/605319/what-mysterious-forces-are-creating-mountains-on-titan","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>In the winding-down period of its more than 12-year mission exploring the Saturn system, \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Cassini\u003c/a> spacecraft has spotted the tallest mountain of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, a peak in the Mithrim Montes range near the equator that rises over two miles above the moon’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cassini spacecraft measured the peaks of Mithrim Montes using its radar instrument to penetrate the layers of thick, smoggy haze in Titan’s atmosphere.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The highest of the peaks is 10,948 feet high, and most of Titan’s highest peaks, which are found near the equator, are close to 10,000 feet tall. Comparably high mountains on Earth include Cathedral Peak in Yosemite, Mount Lassen, and Telescope Peak in Death Valley National Park (whose entire height, from sea level to summit, can be viewed in \u003ca href=\"https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/7/70/Telescope_Peak_from_Badwater_2.jpg/1280px-Telescope_Peak_from_Badwater_2.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">one stunning vista from the valley floor\u003c/a>).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Extreme Mountaineering\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The discovery of nature’s geological extremes—extreme heights, extreme depths, extreme scales—is something that may excite the adventurous spirit in us all. However, scientists have a more practical purpose for taking such measurements, in this case probing the origins and understanding the forces that form the \u003ca href=\"https://penningtonplanetarium.wordpress.com/2013/12/21/the-9-tallest-mountains-in-the-solar-system/comment-page-1/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">solar system’s highest mountain ranges\u003c/a>.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_605409\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 301px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-605409\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Continental-continental_convergence_Fig21contcont.gif\" alt=\"Example of a mountain range uplifted by the collision of two continental tectonic plates, as with Earth's Himalaya Mountain Range. \" width=\"301\" height=\"173\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Example of a mountain range uplifted by the collision of two continental tectonic plates, as with Earth’s Himalaya Mountain Range. \u003ccite>(Public Domain)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Though one might climb a mountain “because it’s there,” the mountains themselves are there for a more concrete reason. Mountains are structures formed by dynamic forces that actively push them upward—for example, the collision of tectonic plates, which is the driving force uplifting Earth’s tallest mountain ranges. Volcanism is another process that builds mountains. And, on some worlds, like the planet Mercury, uplifted features may be formed when the planet or moon cools and contracts, and wrinkles form on its surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Mountains, Young and Old\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On planets and moons with atmospheres—in particular, those with active surface weathering processes—mountains gradually wear down as erosion scours their surfaces. On Earth, the towering Himalayas, Andes, and Rocky Mountains are examples of relatively young mountain ranges pushed upward by the collisions of crustal tectonic plates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_605410\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 800px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-605410\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-800x450.jpg\" alt=\"The Appalachian Mountains, once as high and mighty as the Alps or the Rockies, have eroded over hundreds of millions of years to low, gentle ridges and peaks.\" width=\"800\" height=\"450\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-768x432.jpg 768w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-1440x810.jpg 1440w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-1920x1080.jpg 1920w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/Appalachian_Mountains-960x540.jpg 960w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 800px) 100vw, 800px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">The Appalachian Mountains, once as high and mighty as the Alps or the Rockies, have eroded over hundreds of millions of years to low, gentle ridges and peaks. \u003ccite>(Public Domain)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The Appalachian Mountains along the east coast of North America, today a gentle range whose highest points are less than 7,000 feet above sea level, have been weathered down since their formation 480 million years ago. In its heyday, however, the Appalachians were a mighty range comparable to the Alps and the Rockies.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>What Is at Work Under Titan’s Surface?\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The presence of \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/feature20160324/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Titan’s tall mountains\u003c/a> is intriguing, particularly in light of the fact that Titan’s thick atmosphere and erosive weather cycle of liquid-methane precipitation and runoff are at work wearing them down. This suggests that some active process may have raised the mountains relatively recently.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Candidates for the mountain-building forces responsible for Titan’s ranges include tectonic activity driven by a deep subsurface ocean of water that Titan’s crust floats on, tidal effects from Saturn’s gravity, or the contracting of the moon’s surface as it cools. By studying their size, location, and distribution, scientists hope to learn which of these processes might be the culprit, and how it may still be shaping Titan’s surface today.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003cstrong>Ranging Across the Solar System\u003c/strong>\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_605407\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 640px\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-605407\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/PIA20023-16-640x350.jpg\" alt=\"Radar image made by NASA's Cassini spacecraft of the Mithrim Montes range, where Titan's tallest peak is located.\" width=\"640\" height=\"350\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/PIA20023-16-640x350.jpg 640w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2016/03/PIA20023-16-640x350-400x219.jpg 400w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 640px) 100vw, 640px\">\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Radar image made by NASA’s Cassini spacecraft of the Mithrim Montes range, where Titan’s tallest peak is located. \u003ccite>(NASA/JPL-Caltech/ASI)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Throughout the solar system we explore the tallest mountains and mountain ranges of many planets and moons in order to reveal unseen processes masked by their surfaces.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Pluto’s \u003ca href=\"http://apod.nasa.gov/apod/ap150718.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Norgay Montes\u003c/a> tower 11,000 feet high, while Mercury’s \u003ca href=\"http://messenger.jhuapl.edu/gallery/sciencePhotos/image.php?image_id=503\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Caloris Montes\u003c/a> reaches a similar 10,032 feet. On Venus, \u003ca href=\"http://nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov/imgcat/html/object_page/mgn_c260n033_2.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Maxwell Montes\u003c/a>, whose origin is still under debate, climbs to 35,904 feet. On Mars, the vast shield volcano \u003ca href=\"http://www.windows2universe.org/mars/places/olympus_mons.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Olympus Mons\u003c/a>—the highest mountain in the solar system—rises a breathtaking 69,650 feet above the Martian surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Earth’s own Mount Everest, at 29,029 feet above sea level, along with the entire Himalayan mountain range, was uplifted by the collision of the Indo-Australian and the Eurasian crustal plates.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The Cassini mission is coming to a close. In September 2017, the spacecraft will be deliberately de-orbited and burn up in the atmosphere of Saturn, ending a 13-year expedition of remarkable discovery.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Between now and then, Cassini will make about dozen close flybys of Titan, so there’s still time for a few more long-distance extreme-mountaineering runs….\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/605319/what-mysterious-forces-are-creating-mountains-on-titan","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28","science_40"],"tags":["science_498","science_5175","science_502"],"featImg":"science_605411","label":"science"},"science_229668":{"type":"posts","id":"science_229668","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"229668","score":null,"sort":[1441375239000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"the-cassini-spacecraft-gets-set-for-a-grand-finale","title":"The Cassini Spacecraft Gets Set for a Grand Finale","publishDate":1441375239,"format":"standard","headTitle":"The Cassini Spacecraft Gets Set for a Grand Finale | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"science"},"content":"\u003cp>On August 17, \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Cassini \u003c/a>spacecraft made its final close flyby of Dione, one of Saturn’s fascinating moons, sending us the highest-resolution pictures of its surface to date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And though this isn’t the last flyby of a moon in store for Cassini, the event marks the beginning of this flagship mission’s end game.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this fifth and\u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> final flyby of Dione\u003c/a>, Cassini passed within 295 miles of the moon’s surface — a bit higher than the International Space Station orbits the Earth (keeping in mind, though, that Dione is only about 660 miles across).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Cassini accomplished some exquisite photography, the primary objective of this pass was to probe Dione’s gravity, magnetic field, and the plasma environment around it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_229674\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-229674\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-400x225.jpg\" alt=\"Simulation depicting "curtains" of water vapor erupting from crevasses in the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. \" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060.jpg 1278w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Simulation depicting “curtains” of water vapor erupting from crevasses in the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. \u003ccite>(Cassini/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Analysis of these data will allow scientists to probe the moon’s interior structure. Similar measurements of two of Saturn’s other moons, Titan and Enceladus, were responsible for the discovery of liquid seas deep beneath their crusts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too early to tell what this flyby will reveal about the realm beneath Dione’s surface, but if there’s one thing we have learned from Cassini about the moons of Saturn, they tend to be full of surprises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the months ahead, Cassini will buzz other Saturnian moons, including three passages of Enceladus, one at a distance of only 30 miles from its surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This moon-raking graze will send Cassini deeper than ever before into Enceladus’ plumes of water vapor, which spew from under the moon’s crust. That encounter could reveal more eye-opening clues about the moon’s subsurface geyser chambers, sea, and possible hydrothermal vent activity at the sea floor — all of which have been detected previously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini’s 11-plus-year mission has been a stunning success in terms of its exploration and close scrutiny of Saturn, its system of ice and dust particle rings, and its entourage of moons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_229675\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-229675\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"Sunlight flashing off of the surface of a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on Saturn's moon Titan.\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-75x75.jpg 75w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunlight flashing off of the surface of a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on Saturn’s moon Titan. \u003ccite>(Cassini/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Early in the mission, in 2005, Cassini launched the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Huygens probe onto the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, making it the only solid surface in the outer solar system on which we’ve landed a spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last decade Cassini, and the Huygens probe, have greatly illuminated the Saturn system — but the mission did not begin without some controversy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1997 launch of this spacecraft, which carries 73 pounds of plutonium within three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9710/04/cassini/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was met with strong opposition\u003c/a>. Protesters were concerned with the possibility that a launch accident could spread the radioactive material into the Earth’s environment and pose health risks to human and animal populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exploration of the outer solar system, particularly as far from the sun as Saturn, requires a source of power other than sunlight, since sunlight at that distance is too weak for solar panels to be a practical alternative. Heat from the radioactive decay of substances like plutonium offers a steady and long-lasting supply of energy with which to generate electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The New Horizons spacecraft, which recently made its close flyby of Pluto, is powered by one of the Cassini mission’s spare plutonium-238 RTGs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After next December, Cassini will make only a small number of distant flybys of Saturn’s larger icy moons, and after that a series of long-range encounters with some of Saturn’s tiny, irregular moons, which we haven’t seen in any great detail so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_229677\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-229677\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"Saturn's seemingly serene cloud-tops, polar vortex, and translucent rings.\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-960x960.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-75x75.jpg 75w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saturn’s seemingly serene cloud-tops, polar vortex, and translucent rings. \u003ccite>(Cassini/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then in 2017, Cassini will enter what is being called its \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/name/nameabout/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">grand finale\u003c/a>, steered into an inclined orbit that will send it repeatedly between Saturn and its innermost rings, a region that no spacecraft has ever before explored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the mission refocused exclusively on close-up investigation of Saturn and its rings, this daring and somewhat risky maneuver will deliver details about the gas giant planet as never before. Cassini will probe the interior of Saturn through its magnetic field, take extreme high-resolution images of its cloud systems, and obtain much better measurements of the mass of its ring system, which could give scientists great insight into its origin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, at the conclusion of Cassini’s mission, the spacecraft will be sent into a fiery burn-up in Saturn’s atmosphere, eliminating any chance of its plutonium fuel from ever contaminating one of Saturn’s moons—particularly the water-bearing Enceladus, and cold, liquid-methane drenched Titan. (Maybe this self-sacrifice to protect any possible life on the moons of Saturn will make up a little for earlier concerns to life on Earth.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, our adventure in the Saturn system isn’t over yet, and we can expect more amazing revelations over the next year or two.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"NASA's Cassini spacecraft has already dazzled us with high-resolution pictures from the outer solar system. It has a lot more work to do before the mission's planned fiery finale.","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704931343,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":21,"wordCount":874},"headData":{"title":"The Cassini Spacecraft Gets Set for a Grand Finale | KQED","description":"NASA's Cassini spacecraft has already dazzled us with high-resolution pictures from the outer solar system. It has a lot more work to do before the mission's planned fiery finale.","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"The Cassini Spacecraft Gets Set for a Grand Finale","datePublished":"2015-09-04T14:00:39.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-11T00:02:23.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"sticky":false,"path":"/science/229668/the-cassini-spacecraft-gets-set-for-a-grand-finale","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>On August 17, \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Cassini \u003c/a>spacecraft made its final close flyby of Dione, one of Saturn’s fascinating moons, sending us the highest-resolution pictures of its surface to date.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>And though this isn’t the last flyby of a moon in store for Cassini, the event marks the beginning of this flagship mission’s end game.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On this fifth and\u003ca href=\"http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.php?feature=4695\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> final flyby of Dione\u003c/a>, Cassini passed within 295 miles of the moon’s surface — a bit higher than the International Space Station orbits the Earth (keeping in mind, though, that Dione is only about 660 miles across).\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Cassini accomplished some exquisite photography, the primary objective of this pass was to probe Dione’s gravity, magnetic field, and the plasma environment around it.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_229674\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-229674\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-400x225.jpg\" alt=\"Simulation depicting "curtains" of water vapor erupting from crevasses in the surface of Saturn's moon Enceladus. \" width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-1180x664.jpg 1180w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060-960x540.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA19060.jpg 1278w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Simulation depicting “curtains” of water vapor erupting from crevasses in the surface of Saturn’s moon Enceladus. \u003ccite>(Cassini/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Analysis of these data will allow scientists to probe the moon’s interior structure. Similar measurements of two of Saturn’s other moons, Titan and Enceladus, were responsible for the discovery of liquid seas deep beneath their crusts.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>It’s too early to tell what this flyby will reveal about the realm beneath Dione’s surface, but if there’s one thing we have learned from Cassini about the moons of Saturn, they tend to be full of surprises.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the months ahead, Cassini will buzz other Saturnian moons, including three passages of Enceladus, one at a distance of only 30 miles from its surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This moon-raking graze will send Cassini deeper than ever before into Enceladus’ plumes of water vapor, which spew from under the moon’s crust. That encounter could reveal more eye-opening clues about the moon’s subsurface geyser chambers, sea, and possible hydrothermal vent activity at the sea floor — all of which have been detected previously.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Cassini’s 11-plus-year mission has been a stunning success in terms of its exploration and close scrutiny of Saturn, its system of ice and dust particle rings, and its entourage of moons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_229675\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-229675\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"Sunlight flashing off of the surface of a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on Saturn's moon Titan.\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500-75x75.jpg 75w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18433-br500.jpg 500w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Sunlight flashing off of the surface of a lake of liquid hydrocarbons on Saturn’s moon Titan. \u003ccite>(Cassini/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Early in the mission, in 2005, Cassini launched the European Space Agency’s (ESA) Huygens probe onto the surface of Saturn’s largest moon, Titan, making it the only solid surface in the outer solar system on which we’ve landed a spacecraft.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Over the last decade Cassini, and the Huygens probe, have greatly illuminated the Saturn system — but the mission did not begin without some controversy.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The 1997 launch of this spacecraft, which carries 73 pounds of plutonium within three radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs), \u003ca href=\"http://www.cnn.com/TECH/9710/04/cassini/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">was met with strong opposition\u003c/a>. Protesters were concerned with the possibility that a launch accident could spread the radioactive material into the Earth’s environment and pose health risks to human and animal populations.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Exploration of the outer solar system, particularly as far from the sun as Saturn, requires a source of power other than sunlight, since sunlight at that distance is too weak for solar panels to be a practical alternative. Heat from the radioactive decay of substances like plutonium offers a steady and long-lasting supply of energy with which to generate electricity.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The New Horizons spacecraft, which recently made its close flyby of Pluto, is powered by one of the Cassini mission’s spare plutonium-238 RTGs.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>After next December, Cassini will make only a small number of distant flybys of Saturn’s larger icy moons, and after that a series of long-range encounters with some of Saturn’s tiny, irregular moons, which we haven’t seen in any great detail so far.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_229677\" class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-229677\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-400x400.jpg\" alt=\"Saturn's seemingly serene cloud-tops, polar vortex, and translucent rings.\" width=\"400\" height=\"400\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-400x400.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-800x800.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-960x960.jpg 960w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-32x32.jpg 32w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-64x64.jpg 64w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-96x96.jpg 96w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-128x128.jpg 128w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295-75x75.jpg 75w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/09/PIA18295.jpg 1020w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saturn’s seemingly serene cloud-tops, polar vortex, and translucent rings. \u003ccite>(Cassini/NASA)\u003c/cite>\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>Then in 2017, Cassini will enter what is being called its \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/name/nameabout/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">grand finale\u003c/a>, steered into an inclined orbit that will send it repeatedly between Saturn and its innermost rings, a region that no spacecraft has ever before explored.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>With the mission refocused exclusively on close-up investigation of Saturn and its rings, this daring and somewhat risky maneuver will deliver details about the gas giant planet as never before. Cassini will probe the interior of Saturn through its magnetic field, take extreme high-resolution images of its cloud systems, and obtain much better measurements of the mass of its ring system, which could give scientists great insight into its origin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Then, at the conclusion of Cassini’s mission, the spacecraft will be sent into a fiery burn-up in Saturn’s atmosphere, eliminating any chance of its plutonium fuel from ever contaminating one of Saturn’s moons—particularly the water-bearing Enceladus, and cold, liquid-methane drenched Titan. (Maybe this self-sacrifice to protect any possible life on the moons of Saturn will make up a little for earlier concerns to life on Earth.)\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>In the meantime, our adventure in the Saturn system isn’t over yet, and we can expect more amazing revelations over the next year or two.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/229668/the-cassini-spacecraft-gets-set-for-a-grand-finale","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28","science_40"],"tags":["science_498","science_503","science_499","science_5175","science_501","science_502"],"featImg":"science_229672","label":"science"},"science_102462":{"type":"posts","id":"science_102462","meta":{"index":"posts_1591205157","site":"science","id":"102462","score":null,"sort":[1436536823000]},"guestAuthors":[],"slug":"nasas-cassini-spacecraft-reveals-mystery-lakes-on-saturns-moon-titan","title":"NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Reveals Mystery Lakes on Saturn's Moon Titan","publishDate":1436536823,"format":"standard","headTitle":"NASA’s Cassini Spacecraft Reveals Mystery Lakes on Saturn’s Moon Titan | KQED","labelTerm":{"site":"science"},"content":"\u003cp>New observations of Saturn’s largest satellite, Titan, by \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Cassini \u003c/a>spacecraft, paint a fresh picture of the striking similarities between the cold, distant moon and the Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mysterious, round-edged lakes filling depressions with no apparent sources of liquid have been found in the wide, flat plains in Titan’s polar region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Titan is one of the most fascinating and enigmatic natural satellites in the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its cold, dense nitrogen atmosphere is stocked with thick layers of hydrocarbon clouds, and an apparent liquid cycle of methane and ethane that parallels the precipitation, runoff, and formation of lakes and seas in Earth’s water cycle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102573\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 328px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/sinkholelakes1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102573\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/sinkholelakes1.jpg\" alt=\"Alleged "sinkhole" lakes in the flat plains of Titan's polar region. (Cassini/NASA)\" width=\"328\" height=\"282\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alleged “sinkhole” lakes in the flat plains of Titan’s polar region. (Cassini/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The vast lakes and small seas that Cassini introduced us to years ago, which are hundreds of miles across and possibly hundreds of feet deep, are supplied by an obvious source: extensive river networks collecting the runoff from precipitation falling on higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>[ad fullwidth]\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/feature20150619/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">newly discovered\u003c/a> family of small, rounded lakes set in the wide, flat polar plains and mostly unconnected to runoff channels has prompted scientists to refine our understanding of some of the processes that shape Titan’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How these lakes are filled is only part of the mystery. It is believed that, in the absence of runoff channels feeding them, these depressions likely collect liquid directly from precipitation, and possibly from underground sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, Crater Lake in Oregon is an example of a lake filled solely by rain and snowfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102565\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-102565\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham-400x339.jpg\" alt=\"Meteorite impact crater Lake Ejagham in Cameroon. (Google Earth)\" width=\"400\" height=\"339\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham-400x339.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham.jpg 686w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lake Ejagham in Cameroon was caused by a meteorite impact. (Google Earth)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The other part of the puzzle is what made the depressions in the first place. Were they gouged out of the flat Titanian plains by meteorite impacts? Such crater lakes can be found on Earth, like Lake Ejagham in the Southwest Province of Cameroon, a circular, half-mile wide water-filled depression in a flat forest basin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the structure and appearance of the strange lakes on Titan appear to be more similar to limestone cave and sinkhole formations on Earth, which are created when soft limestone and gypsum rock is dissolved by the action of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, such formations are most prevalent in humid and rainy climates. Numerous large sinkholes, or “cenotes,” are found in the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102566\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-102566\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote-400x225.jpg\" alt='A \"cenote,\" or sinkhole, in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. (Google Earth)' width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote.jpg 914w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This sinkhole or “cenote” in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula was caused by the dissolving of soft rock by the action of water percolating through the earth. (Google Earth)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Titan, these lake depressions are located in the relatively rainy polar plains, and are not to be found in the equatorial regions where there is considerably less rainfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A team of scientists calculated how long it would take for the alleged polar sinkhole depressions to form, taking into account the differences in conditions between Earth and Titan, including the nature of the frigid liquid hydrocarbons and Titan’s much longer seasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Titan’s seasonal cycle, which drives the rainy and dry periods that alternately fill and dry up the polar lakes, is tied in with the orbital period of Saturn and its moons around the sun, which is almost 30 years in length.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The science team estimated that a 300-foot-deep depression–created from the dissolving of surface rock by liquid hydrocarbon action–would take about 50 million years to form.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This may sound like a long time, but in terms of geologic change is not all that long. Titan’s surface in general is regarded as relatively “young” in the geologic timescale: about a billion years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Titan’s surface is extremely cold—a couple hundred degrees below zero, cold enough that the burner on a gas stove would spew out liquid methane instead of gas—the parallels to conditions on Earth and landscapes that we might find familiar make this world great food for the imagination, and fuel for scientific curiosity.\u003c/p>\n\n","blocks":[],"excerpt":"New observations of Saturn's largest satellite, Titan, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, paint a fresh picture of the striking similarities between the cold, distant moon and the Earth. ","status":"publish","parent":0,"modified":1704931576,"stats":{"hasAudio":false,"hasVideo":false,"hasChartOrMap":false,"iframeSrcs":[],"hasGoogleForm":false,"hasGallery":false,"hasHearkenModule":false,"hasPolis":false,"paragraphCount":19,"wordCount":682},"headData":{"title":"NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Reveals Mystery Lakes on Saturn's Moon Titan | KQED","description":"New observations of Saturn's largest satellite, Titan, by NASA's Cassini spacecraft, paint a fresh picture of the striking similarities between the cold, distant moon and the Earth. ","ogTitle":"","ogDescription":"","ogImgId":"","twTitle":"","twDescription":"","twImgId":"","schema":{"@context":"http://schema.org","@type":"Article","headline":"NASA's Cassini Spacecraft Reveals Mystery Lakes on Saturn's Moon Titan","datePublished":"2015-07-10T14:00:23.000Z","dateModified":"2024-01-11T00:06:16.000Z","image":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/KQED-OG-Image@1x.png"}},"sticky":false,"path":"/science/102462/nasas-cassini-spacecraft-reveals-mystery-lakes-on-saturns-moon-titan","audioTrackLength":null,"parsedContent":[{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003cp>New observations of Saturn’s largest satellite, Titan, by \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">NASA’s Cassini \u003c/a>spacecraft, paint a fresh picture of the striking similarities between the cold, distant moon and the Earth.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Mysterious, round-edged lakes filling depressions with no apparent sources of liquid have been found in the wide, flat plains in Titan’s polar region.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Titan is one of the most fascinating and enigmatic natural satellites in the solar system.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Its cold, dense nitrogen atmosphere is stocked with thick layers of hydrocarbon clouds, and an apparent liquid cycle of methane and ethane that parallels the precipitation, runoff, and formation of lakes and seas in Earth’s water cycle.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102573\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 328px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/sinkholelakes1.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-full wp-image-102573\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/sinkholelakes1.jpg\" alt=\"Alleged "sinkhole" lakes in the flat plains of Titan's polar region. (Cassini/NASA)\" width=\"328\" height=\"282\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Alleged “sinkhole” lakes in the flat plains of Titan’s polar region. (Cassini/NASA)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The vast lakes and small seas that Cassini introduced us to years ago, which are hundreds of miles across and possibly hundreds of feet deep, are supplied by an obvious source: extensive river networks collecting the runoff from precipitation falling on higher ground.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\u003c/div>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}},{"type":"component","content":"","name":"ad","attributes":{"named":{"label":"fullwidth"},"numeric":["fullwidth"]}},{"type":"contentString","content":"\u003cdiv class=\"post-body\">\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>But the \u003ca href=\"http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/cassinifeatures/feature20150619/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">newly discovered\u003c/a> family of small, rounded lakes set in the wide, flat polar plains and mostly unconnected to runoff channels has prompted scientists to refine our understanding of some of the processes that shape Titan’s surface.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>How these lakes are filled is only part of the mystery. It is believed that, in the absence of runoff channels feeding them, these depressions likely collect liquid directly from precipitation, and possibly from underground sources.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, Crater Lake in Oregon is an example of a lake filled solely by rain and snowfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102565\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-102565\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham-400x339.jpg\" alt=\"Meteorite impact crater Lake Ejagham in Cameroon. (Google Earth)\" width=\"400\" height=\"339\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham-400x339.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/lakeejagham.jpg 686w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Lake Ejagham in Cameroon was caused by a meteorite impact. (Google Earth)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>The other part of the puzzle is what made the depressions in the first place. Were they gouged out of the flat Titanian plains by meteorite impacts? Such crater lakes can be found on Earth, like Lake Ejagham in the Southwest Province of Cameroon, a circular, half-mile wide water-filled depression in a flat forest basin.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>However, the structure and appearance of the strange lakes on Titan appear to be more similar to limestone cave and sinkhole formations on Earth, which are created when soft limestone and gypsum rock is dissolved by the action of water.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>On Earth, such formations are most prevalent in humid and rainy climates. Numerous large sinkholes, or “cenotes,” are found in the jungles of the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico.\u003c/p>\n\u003cfigure id=\"attachment_102566\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\" style=\"max-width: 400px\">\u003ca href=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote.jpg\">\u003cimg loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-thumbnail wp-image-102566\" src=\"http://ww2.kqed.org/science/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote-400x225.jpg\" alt='A \"cenote,\" or sinkhole, in the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico. (Google Earth)' width=\"400\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote-400x225.jpg 400w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote-800x450.jpg 800w, https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/35/2015/07/cenote.jpg 914w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 400px) 100vw, 400px\">\u003c/a>\u003cfigcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">This sinkhole or “cenote” in Mexico’s Yucatan Peninsula was caused by the dissolving of soft rock by the action of water percolating through the earth. (Google Earth)\u003c/figcaption>\u003c/figure>\n\u003cp>On Titan, these lake depressions are located in the relatively rainy polar plains, and are not to be found in the equatorial regions where there is considerably less rainfall.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>A team of scientists calculated how long it would take for the alleged polar sinkhole depressions to form, taking into account the differences in conditions between Earth and Titan, including the nature of the frigid liquid hydrocarbons and Titan’s much longer seasons.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Titan’s seasonal cycle, which drives the rainy and dry periods that alternately fill and dry up the polar lakes, is tied in with the orbital period of Saturn and its moons around the sun, which is almost 30 years in length.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>The science team estimated that a 300-foot-deep depression–created from the dissolving of surface rock by liquid hydrocarbon action–would take about 50 million years to form.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>This may sound like a long time, but in terms of geologic change is not all that long. Titan’s surface in general is regarded as relatively “young” in the geologic timescale: about a billion years.\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>\u003c/p>\n\u003cp>Though Titan’s surface is extremely cold—a couple hundred degrees below zero, cold enough that the burner on a gas stove would spew out liquid methane instead of gas—the parallels to conditions on Earth and landscapes that we might find familiar make this world great food for the imagination, and fuel for scientific curiosity.\u003c/p>\n\n\u003c/div>\u003c/p>","attributes":{"named":{},"numeric":[]}}],"link":"/science/102462/nasas-cassini-spacecraft-reveals-mystery-lakes-on-saturns-moon-titan","authors":["6180"],"categories":["science_28","science_40"],"tags":["science_498","science_5175","science_502"],"featImg":"science_102463","label":"science"}},"programsReducer":{"possible":{"id":"possible","title":"Possible","info":"Possible is hosted by entrepreneur Reid Hoffman and writer Aria Finger. 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And you join us on the journey to find the answers.","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Bay-Curious-Podcast-Tile-703x703-1.jpg","imageAlt":"\"KQED Bay Curious","officialWebsiteLink":"/news/series/baycurious","meta":{"site":"news","source":"kqed","order":"4"},"link":"/podcasts/baycurious","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/bay-curious/id1172473406","npr":"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/500557090/bay-curious","rss":"https://ww2.kqed.org/news/category/bay-curious-podcast/feed/podcast","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93dzIua3FlZC5vcmcvbmV3cy9jYXRlZ29yeS9iYXktY3VyaW91cy1wb2RjYXN0L2ZlZWQvcG9kY2FzdA","stitcher":"https://www.stitcher.com/podcast/kqed/bay-curious","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/6O76IdmhixfijmhTZLIJ8k"}},"bbc-world-service":{"id":"bbc-world-service","title":"BBC World Service","info":"The day's top stories from BBC News compiled twice daily in the week, once at weekends.","airtime":"MON-FRI 9pm-10pm, TUE-FRI 1am-2am","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/BBC-World-Service-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","officialWebsiteLink":"https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/live:bbc_world_service","meta":{"site":"news","source":"BBC World Service"},"link":"/radio/program/bbc-world-service","subscribe":{"apple":"https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/global-news-podcast/id135067274?mt=2","tuneIn":"https://tunein.com/radio/BBC-World-Service-p455581/","rss":"https://podcasts.files.bbci.co.uk/p02nq0gn.rss"}},"code-switch-life-kit":{"id":"code-switch-life-kit","title":"Code Switch / Life Kit","info":"\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em>, which listeners will hear in the first part of the hour, has fearless and much-needed conversations about race. Hosted by journalists of color, the show tackles the subject of race head-on, exploring how it impacts every part of society — from politics and pop culture to history, sports and more.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em>, which will be in the second part of the hour, guides you through spaces and feelings no one prepares you for — from finances to mental health, from workplace microaggressions to imposter syndrome, from relationships to parenting. The show features experts with real world experience and shares their knowledge. Because everyone needs a little help being human.\u003cbr />\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/podcasts/510312/codeswitch\">\u003cem>Code Switch\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />\u003ca href=\"https://www.npr.org/lifekit\">\u003cem>Life Kit\u003c/em> offical site and podcast\u003c/a>\u003cbr />","airtime":"SUN 9pm-10pm","imageSrc":"https://cdn.kqed.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/Code-Switch-Life-Kit-Podcast-Tile-360x360-1.jpg","meta":{"site":"radio","source":"npr"},"link":"/radio/program/code-switch-life-kit","subscribe":{"apple":"https://podcasts.apple.com/podcast/1112190608?mt=2&at=11l79Y&ct=nprdirectory","google":"https://podcasts.google.com/feed/aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cubnByLm9yZy9yc3MvcG9kY2FzdC5waHA_aWQ9NTEwMzEy","spotify":"https://open.spotify.com/show/3bExJ9JQpkwNhoHvaIIuyV","rss":"https://feeds.npr.org/510312/podcast.xml"}},"commonwealth-club":{"id":"commonwealth-club","title":"Commonwealth Club of California Podcast","info":"The Commonwealth Club of California is the nation's oldest and largest public affairs forum. 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