Skip Navigation
menu close modal

Resources

Breakup (Illustration)

Illustration of spacecraft breaking apart above Saturn.
Source: NASA/JPL-Caltech
Published: April 5, 2017

In this screenshot from the short animated film Cassini's Grand Finale, the spacecraft is shown breaking apart after entering Saturn's atmosphere. The planned end of Cassini will occur on Sept. 15, 2017.

ENLARGE

Related

Full-Res Image   After nearly seven years of space travel, the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft will arrive at Saturn on June 30. In a maneuver called orbit insertion, Cassini will slow itself down ...
More
Saturn Arrival - A Guide to Saturn Orbit Insertion
Saturn Arrival -- A Guide to Saturn Orbit Insertion
The Cassini composite infrared spectrometer obtained temperature maps of Saturn's main rings (A, B and C) that showed ring temperatures decreasing with increasing solar phase angle (the change of t...
More
This image shows temperature maps of Saturns main rings (A, B and C)
Slower Spinning Rings #1
These Voyager mission infographics put solar system distances in perspective.
More
This artist's concept puts solar system distances in perspective.
Oort Cloud and Scale of the Solar System (Infographic)
This graphic illustrates Cassini's trajectory, or flight path, during the final two phases of its mission. The view is toward Saturn as seen from Earth. The 20 Ring-Grazing Orbits are shown in gray...
More
Illustration show Cassini orbiting Saturn.
Earth View of Final Orbits: Cassini Grand Finale (Artist's Concept)
Enceladus is a small ocean world covered in ice -- one of more than 60 confirmed moons orbiting Saturn.
More
infographic of Enceladus
Infographic: 8 Real World Science Facts About Enceladus
Ride the Tides Through the Throat of Kraken
More
Travel Poster
Titan Travel Poster
This artist's concept shows NASA's Dawn spacecraft heading toward the dwarf planet Ceres. When Dawn arrives, it will be the first spacecraft to go into orbit around two destinations in our solar sy...
More
On the Way to Ceres (Artist Concept)
On the Way to Ceres (Artist Concept)
Graphic showing the relative altitudes of Cassini's final five passes through Saturn's upper atmosphere.
More
Graphic showing the relative altitudes of Cassini's final five passes
Cassini's Five Final Passes
Artist's rendition of the Pioneer 10 spacecraft at Jupiter.
More
Illustration of spacecraft flying past the limb of Jupiter.
Pioneer 10 at Jupiter (Artist's Concept)
Images from the magnetospheric imaging instrument and the ion and neutral camera onboard the Cassini spacecraft reveal aspects of the interactions between Saturn's dynamic population of hot energet...
More
Neutral Gas Cloud Around Titan
Neutral Gas Cloud Around Titan
A diagram of the Dawn spacecraft from 2006.
More
Diagram of spacecraft
Dawn Spacecraft Diagram No. 2
A diagram of instruments on the Pioneer 10 and 11 spacecraft.
More
Illustration showing spacecraft and parts.
Pioneer Spacecraft Diagram
+ View high res + View unannotated version + View contrast enhanced version On July 19, 2013, in an event celebrated the world over, NASA's Cassini spacecraft slipped into Saturn's shadow ...
More
Saturn system
The Day the Earth Smiled (annotated)
A brief explainer about the 2018 global dust storm on Mars.
More
Illustrated story about dust impact on Mars rover.
Science Comic: Dust Storm on Mars
Saturn reaches opposition -- the closest it comes to Earth -- on Jan. 27, 2006. On this date, golden Saturn rises in the east just as the sun sets in the west. It will be visible all night long. A...
More
Illustration of Saturn at opposition to the Earth
Ringside Seats for Saturn
A new slide show highlights the Cassini spacecraft's third year at the ringed world. + Slide show
More
Screen grab of first page of slideshow
Rings Around Saturn
This visual reveals how the magnetic field associated with the Psyche spacecraft distorts the ambient magnetic field to be measured.
More
In this data visualization magnetic fields are shown in lines bending around the spacecraft. The more intense the magnetic energy, the redder the color. Most intensity is centered around the spacecraft body.
Magnetic Field of the Psyche Spacecraft Immersed in the Interplanetary Magnetic Field (IMF)
See original version of this image here. This sweeping mosaic of Saturn's moon Enceladus provides broad regional context for the ultra-sharp, close-up views NASA's Cassini spacecraft acquired mi...
More
Enceladus with labels
Great Southern Land (Labeled)
Happy Holidays from the Cassini mission family.
More
Illustration showing the Cassini spacecraft in a snowglobe.
Happy Holidays 2016
Ultraviolet and infrared images from NASA's Cassini spacecraft and Hubble Space Telescope show active and quiet auroras at Saturn's north and south poles. Saturn's auroras glow when energetic el...
More
Auroras on Saturn
Dance of Saturn's auroras
This colorized mosaic from NASA's Cassini mission shows the most complete view yet of Titan's northern land of lakes and seas. Saturn's moon Titan is the only world in our solar system other than E...
More
This colorized mosaic from NASA's Cassini mission shows the most complete view yet of Titan's northern land of lakes and seas.
Titan's North -- Annotated, With Text
The minimum concentration of ozone above Antarctica from 1979 to 2013.
More
Animation of ozone concentration above Antarctica
Repairing the Ozone Hole
MLS measures lower stratospheric temperature and concentrations of H2O, O3, ClO, BrO, HCl, OH, HO2, HNO3, HCN and N2O, for their effects on (and diagnoses of) ozone depletion, transformations of gr...
More
Graphic showing the effects of temperature and atmospheric components on ozone depletion
Ozone Measurements Out on a Limb
This set of enhanced-color maps made from data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft show Saturn's moons Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione and Rhea. The global maps show the colorful splotches and ba...
More
This set of enhanced-color maps made from data obtained by NASA's Cassini spacecraft show Saturn's moons Mimas, Enceladus, Tethys, Dione and Rhea.
Enhanced-Color Maps of Saturn Inner Moons
Frigid and alien, yet similar to our own planet billions of years ago, Saturn's largest moon, Titan, has a thick atmosphere, organic-rich chemistry and a surface shaped by rivers and lakes of liqui...
More
Artist's rendition of journey to Titan
Titan Travel Poster

You Might Also Like