NASA’s Cassini Probe Takes First-Ever Dive Through Saturn’s Rings

NASA said its Cassini spacecraft has successfully made the first close dive past the outer edges of Saturn's rings since beginning its penultimate mission phase on 30 November, but did not obtain views of the planet near the time of closest approach.

Cassini crossed through the plane of Saturn's rings on Sunday at a distance of approximately 91,000 kilometres above Saturn's cloud tops. This is the approximate location of a faint, dusty ring produced by the planet's small moons Janus and Epimetheus, and just 11,000 kilometres from the centre of Saturn's F ring.

About an hour prior to the ring-plane crossing, the spacecraft performed a short burn of its main engine that lasted about six seconds. About 30 minutes later, as it approached the ring plane, Cassini closed its canopy-like engine cover as a protective measure. A few hours after the ring-plane crossing, Cassini began a complete scan across the rings with its radio science experiment to study their structure in great detail.

On 15 September, the mission will conclude with a final plunge into Saturn's atmosphere. Launched in 1997, Cassini has been touring the Saturn system since arriving there in 2004 for an up-close study of the planet, its rings and moons.