The orbit route of Cassini will bring the spacecraft to Saturn's outer rings called the F-ring orbits. Within the following next weeks, Cassini will be at its closest point to Saturn, just 4,850 miles from the center of the F ring. The F ring is one of the most interesting of all rings because of it's kinky and braid like structure.
The Grand and Final Moments of Cassini in Saturn
The final phase of Cassini's stay in Saturn is called as the Grand Finale and will begin in April 2017. Cassini will fly through Titan, the giant moon of Saturn. This will be enough to shift the orbit of the spacecraft while passing through the gaps of Saturn's rings.
These gaps are yet to be explored despite the risks of it knowing that it is only 1,500 miles wide - a narrow distance in cosmic proportions. Cassini will be making 22 plunges within the gap, and will start on April 27, 2017.
Cassini Gets Into the Atmosphere of Saturn
2016 is marked by several strides of NASA engineers to change the orbital path of Cassini, bringing it as close to the planet as possible.
Cassini was under several tweaks in the previous years as space engineers and scientists attempts to enable Cassini to fly by Titan. This, in turn, caused the shifting of the tilt of Cassini's orbit, bringing it closer to the atmosphere of Saturn.
Spilker, an official from NASA says, "This is the sort of view Cassini will have as the spacecraft repeatedly climbs high above Saturn's northern latitudes before plunging past the outer -- and later the inner -- edges of the rings."
Despite the final days of Cassini is fast approaching, there is still one more mission that the legendary spacecraft needs to successfully do, which is to attempt to fly by as close as possible to the atmosphere of Saturn, thereby obtaining valuable information of the gas planet.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a joint project undertaken by NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency.
