After 12 years of scanning Saturn, NASA's Cassini spacecraft is about to enter a new orbit - one that will take the probe up close to the planet's famous rings.
These ring-grazing orbits, as NASA calls them, will bring Cassini within nearly 5000 miles off Saturn's F ring, which marks the border of the main ring system.
These orbits will allow Cassini to study the particles and gas molecules that linger near the rings as well as observe the small moons that orbit along the rings' edges.
As exciting as this move is, it also marks the beginning of the end for Cassini, which has been traveling through space for 20 years now.
According to NASA, these are some facts related to the Cassini Spacecraft:
The Dimensions of Cassini Orbiter are 22 feet high, 13.1 feet wide. It weighs around 12,593 pounds with Fuel, Huygen Probe, adapter, etc.
The orbiter science instruments consists of composite infrared spectrometer, imaging system, ultraviolet imaging spectrograph, visual and infrared mapping spectrometer, imaging radar, radio science, plasma spectrometer, cosmic dust analyzer, ion and neutral mass spectrometer, magnetometer, magnetospheric imaging instrument, radio and plasma wave science.
The power is 885 watts from radioisotope thermoelectric generators.
Things will get underway as soon as tomorrow when Cassini performs its second to last flyby of Saturn's moon Titan.
During the maneuver, Cassini will take visible and infrared images of the cloudy moon, as well as map out Titan's north pole to see if anything has changed since the spacecraft's last Titan flybys. Cassini will also use its on board infrared spectrometer to create a temperature map of Titan, allowing scientists to understand the composition of the moon's atmosphere.
As Cassini gathers data from Titan, the spacecraft will also get a gravity assist from the moon, putting the spacecraft into its Ring-Grazing Orbits. Cassini officially enters this new orbit on November 30th, and will remain on this highly elliptical path until April 2017. During that time, the probe will dive near Saturn's F ring once a week, 20 times in total.
Cassini's first graze of the F ring is scheduled to occur on Dec. 4. During that pass, Cassini will also briefly ignite its main engine to help fine tune its orbit.
It will be the 183rd time the spacecraft turns on its engine, as well as the last time, if all goes according to plan. NASA plans to use the spacecraft's smaller thrusters to maneuver Cassini into its Grand Finale orbit - a path that will bring the vehicle a little over 1,000 miles within Saturn's cloud-top surface every six days.
Then in mid-September, Cassini will perform its death dive into the planet. The reason Cassini's mission has to end is because it's running low on fuel, and NASA would eventually lose control of the probe if its fuel supplies are depleted.
