(NASA/JPL-Caltech)PASADENA, Calif. — A billion-dollar spacecraft named Cassini is about to burn up as it plunges into the atmosphere of Saturn this month. As the Earth turns, there’s always a big dish looking out for Cassini, and for JPL’s other spacecraft roaming the solar system. Inside the Charles Elachi Mission Control Center, where scientists track the Cassini spacecraft on its journey through the solar system. After Cassini, launched in 1997, arrived at Saturn in 2004, Huygens disengaged from the main spacecraft and dropped through Titan’s thick clouds. Mar Vaquero, on the Cassini spacecraft navigation team, has done the calculations to steer Cassini into Saturn.

Source: Washington Post September 09, 2017 15:10 UTC