NASA at Saturn: Cassini's Grand Finale

The final chapter in a remarkable mission of exploration and discovery, Cassini's Grand Finale is in many ways like a brand new mission. Twenty-two times, NASA's Cassini spacecraft will dive through the unexplored space between Saturn and its rings. What we learn from these ultra-close passes over the planet could be some of the most exciting revelations ever returned by the long-lived spacecraft. This animated video tells the story of Cassini's final, daring assignment and looks back at what the mission has accomplished.

[christopherscarpino]

In 1994, as one of my first assignments as a new engineer for the OFC Corporation, I was asked to work on the optics for Cassini. My partner and I worked on the coatings for the VIMS optics. In the fall of 1994, six optical sets passed QC and were hand-carried by JPL to Cincinnati Electronics for assembly in the VIMS unit. I still have one of the optics that failed QC and didn't make the flight. It's sitting here on my desk right now.

Working on Cassini was probably the most important contribution I ever made as an engineer. Just to think of it up there, orbiting Saturn, has been a daily inspiration to me.

[simbalg]

Even now I can't understand why I almost cry every time I watch this video

[jetmike]

I don't know why, but the line "On the final orbit, Cassini will plunge into Saturn, fighting to keep it's antenna pointed at Earth" gets me sad. Almost like it's trying as hard it can to make us proud one last time

[priyeshpal]

"As cassini becomes the part of the planet itself ". The line touched my heart ❤❤❤

[Brand]

Brave little spacecraft.
**wipes away a tear**

[toffer]

This is sheer poetry: "Where methane rivers run, into a methane sea."
"Ruled by raging storms and delicate harmonies of gravity."

[forrestprather]

I cried a little at the end.

Godspeed you brave robot, solitary space explorer, font of knowledge, the tip of humanity's shallow reach.

[rcdcrichard]

This video actually won a 2018 Emmy Award! It is THAT good.

[DogOnAShip]

Less war, More space, that's what humanity needs.

[namanyadav]

Wow, i never knew that a spacecraft can make me cry

[bungarychubbins]

My parents almost named me Cassini. I was born the same day it was launched, and only miles away from the launch sight 😊

[ammarzuhair]

Cassini: Was I a good spacecraft?
Death: No, I heard you were the best.

[MossPalone]

*Do not go gentle into the good night. Rage. Rage against the dying of the light.* Wipes tear

[ya]

You can't but feel an emotional connection to Cassini in its final moments.

Even though it's an inanimate object, the fact that it has a name, you automatically create an emotional attachment to it and makes you want it to succeed in whatever it was built to do. And that's why it's sad to see it be destroyed. Even if its mission was a success.

So, thank you Cassini!

[TheMushopiaChannel]

Feel for the scientists and the engineers who made this little probe. To them, it would be nothing short of their child, millions of kilometers away, unseen for twenty years, and taking hours to respond to the simplest of commands, yet it continues to make its parents proud, and delivering what is requested. The suspense and anxiety those mission controllers must have felt in the last twenty years have to result in some kind of emotion bond to that little computer. Imagine sending your daughter out into the unknown, facing countless dangers and always playing the odds, running on processors two decades old yet still functioning and transmitting massive amounts of data home, never giving up. The little probe has made hundreds of maneuvers, each one painstakingly planned and executed, each one biting into her fuel reserves, each one bringing her closer to her end. Imagine the programmers who gave her the knowledge to keep herself safe, the engineers who designed her to be our eyes and ears, and the flight controllers who worked nonstop for twenty years to keep their child safe. To some it will be their entire career, others their magnum opus, but for all of us Cassini is our trailblazer, for in her footsteps we must follow. We must continue to send our robotic creations into the abyss, so that someday we might go ourselves, wielding all the knowledge these brave children of ours have collected. Our descendants might never find Cassini after her cremation into Saturn, but they will go where Cassini has gone, see what Cassini has seen, and they will remember her and thank her for leading them there. Cassini might not be able to think as we humans do, or talk as we can, but she is more human than many of us will ever be, she embodies our spirit of courage, curiosity, fascination and exploration, embarking on a one way trip in the hopes that others will follow. Don't be afraid to shed a tear for our little girl, be afraid that we might let her down, and to squander her efforts. Next time you see a bright star in the low summer sky, glistening over the horizon, just know that Cassini is there, beckoning you to come visit her.

[solovevkiril]

Cassini’s last message:

I know now why you cry… but that’s something I can never do. Goodbye…

[rockopeace]

This is the best video FX I've ever seen by NASA. Amazing. I'm crying. :')

[Enchantd]

I can't help but cry.
When you think about it, it's so beautiful. Setting out on a mission into a literal unknown world, doing your part to provide the home base with as much information as you can while withstanding brutal energy, rocks, etc for 20 years. Realizing your time is coming to an end but you keep your work as your priority....until the final moment.

I wonder how the engineers must feel? The scientists? I imagine it's like listening to the last words of a fallen comrade staring at the face of death, unwavering and telling you to stick with the mission and be safe.

[cringeworthyhumans]

*I'M NOT CRYING*



*WE ARE ALL CRYING*

[Jack-qief]

It’s been almost 2 years and I still cry every time I watch this.