BREAKING NEWS

US spacecraft to take slingshot dive inside Saturn’s rings

By REUTERS

APRIL 22, 2017 14:05

NASA's Cassini spacecraft soared past Saturn's biggest moon for the last time on Saturday, tapping its gravity to slingshot into a series of exploratory dives inside the planet's rings, followed by a final fatal plunge into the gas giant.

After nearly 20 years of traveling in space, Cassini used the gravitational tug of Titan, a moon resembling primordial Earth, to hurl itself into a new orbit that will pass through an unexplored region between Saturn's cloud tops and its rings.

The spacecraft is expected to make the first of 22 dives between the planet and its rings on Wednesday. During the last dive on Sept. 15, Cassini is slated to destroy itself by flying directly into Saturn’s crushing atmosphere.

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