NASA / ESA - Cassini Mission to Saturn patch.
1 July 2014
With input from more than 2,000 members of the public, team members on NASA's Cassini mission to Saturn have chosen a name for the final phase of the mission: the Cassini Grand Finale.
Starting in late 2016, the Cassini spacecraft will begin a daring set of orbits that is, in some ways, like a whole new mission. The spacecraft will repeatedly climb high above Saturn's north pole, flying just outside its narrow F ring. Cassini will probe the water-rich plume of the active geysers on the planet's intriguing moon Enceladus, and then will hop the rings and dive between the planet and innermost ring 22 times.
Image above: With help from the public, members of NASA's Cassini mission have chosen to call the spacecraft's final orbits the "Cassini Grand Finale." Image Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech.
Because the spacecraft will be in close proximity to Saturn, the team had been calling this phase "the proximal orbits," but they felt the public could help decide on a more exciting moniker. In early April, the Cassini mission invited the public to vote on a list of alternative names provided by team members or to suggest ideas of their own.
"We chose a name for this mission phase that would reflect the exciting journey ahead while acknowledging that it's a big finish for what has been a truly great show," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
For more information about the name contest, visit: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/name
For a visualization of the Grand Finale, visit: http://eyes.nasa.gov and click on "Cassini's Tour"
For more information about Cassini mission, Visit: http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/cassini/main/ and http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Space_Science/Cassini-Huygens
Image (mentioned), Text, Credits: NASA / JPL / Preston Dyches.
Cheers, Orbiter.ch
