Cassini flies next to Enceladus for the last time

The mission of the Cassini spacecraft is coming to an end, and is due to end in 2017. Now the device for the last time passed by Enceladus, the satellite of Saturn. This is not the first rapprochement with the planetoid, but the goal for study, scientists choose each time a new one. Now the device had to make a thermal map of the satellite of Saturn, which would help to better understand the structure of the surface, and possibly to see the places where water came to the surface.

The distance Cassini approached Enceladus was 4,999 kilometers. Enceladus is a geologically active object, while the planetoid has an icy ocean of warm salt water. Scientists have found this out thanks to previous flights of the device past the satellite. The current distance, according to scientists, is optimal for compiling a heat map of the surface of Enceladus.



Cassini approached the minimum distance in 2015 on October 28 - it was only 49 kilometers to the surface of Enceladus. But this is not the limit 0 in 2008, Cassini approached Enceladus at a distance of only 28 kilometers from the surface. This made it possible to obtain photographs of the surface of the planetoid. Scientists are still studying the data that the spacecraft received in October - the Earth received a lot of interesting data. For example, Cassini flew through the material ejected from beneath the surface of Enceladus, and this also provided evidence of the existence of water under a thick ice sheet. Studying the emissions of cryovolcanoes will allow scientists to understand the approximate composition of ocean water. This, in turn, will make it possible to understand whether there is a probability of life under the ice crust of Enceladus.

Now in the solar system there are already three objects, where, according to scientists, there is an icy ocean. This is Europe, the satellite of Jupiter, Ganymede, and Enceladus. Moreover, traces of liquid water and water ice were discovered on a large number of other objects in the solar system. In principle, it is easier to name objects where there is no water than to list all the planets and planetoids where there is water.

Officially, the Cassini mission should be completed in September 2017. I would like to hope that by this time the device will make many more discoveries.