Will Saturn’s Icy Rings be Demystified?

NASA(National Aeronautics and Space Administration)’s Saturn probe, Cassini, is set to enter Saturn’s orbit on July 1 at 11:11 a.m. (Korean Time).

Cassini was launched on October 15, 1997 and spent six years and eight months to reach Saturn, the sixth planet in the solar system.

After entering the orbit, Cassni will attempt to fly through the ring plane by firing its retroengine to slow down for 96 minutes beginning at 11:36 a.m.

During that period, Cassini will take pictures of Saturn’s rings with two cameras, and the $3.3 billion mission(3.8 trillion won)‘s destiny lies in that moment.

If the speed cannot be reduced, it might collide with Saturn or pass through the Saturn’s ring-plane too fast. Even if Cassini manages to enter the orbit safely, there still are dangers of hitting ice and rocks in the rings.

After the flight through the ring plane, Cassini will approach Titan, one of Saturn`s moons, and send a smaller probe down on it. Titan is the only one among the 31 moons of Saturn that has an atmosphere.

Cassini has already sent new information that the length of Saturn’s day (rotation period) is 10 hours, 45 minutes, and 45 seconds, six minutes shorter than what Voyager 1 and 2 measured in 1980 and 1981, respectively.

NASA also expects Cassini to find more new moons of Saturn.

Cassini was named after Italian astronomer, Giovanni Cassini, who discovered the gap (Cassini’s Division) between the A and B rings among Saturn’s seven (A-G) rings.

Jin Lee leej@donga.com