This is a sad day for me....
I lost my best friend..
I lost someone who has meant more to me then any other person I have ever known.
I am so sad and heart broken, I don't understand.
I don't know why.
Why do people act in such terrible ways and hurt other people with so little respect or feelings.
This is a hard day and I know my life has changed.
An Addition after several years:
My girlfriend, whom I loved since the day I met her, lied and cheated on me. She broke my heart, destroyed my trust, crushed my dreams and showed she was not the person I thought she was. There is always a lot of talk about cheaters, men and women both cheat. The one who is most affected is the person who is cheated on, that person is destroyed, that other maybe shamed or sorry or maybe not at all. My girlfriend, who I wanted to marry, who I wanted to spend my life with, didn't have the guts to tell me to my face she wanted to end our relationship. She was a coward, to lied to me for months and hid many thing. I trusted her. She used my trust and didn't care enough to say "I want to end this" or " I want to move on". She simply decided to cheat, then lie.
October 30, 2012
Bounty
Bounty lost..
The Baja Ha-Ha 19 has started...
October 29, 2012
China Cup International
Some action at the China Cup International this weekend. A few mishaps and unfortunately a couple of dis-mastings. I believe no one was hurt, just pride.
Dragon home
The Dragon capsule will be taken by boat to a port near Los Angeles, where it will be prepared for a return journey to SpaceX's test facility in McGregor, Texas, for processing. Returning with the Dragon capsule was 1,673 pounds of cargo, including 866 pounds of scientific research. Not since the space shuttle have NASA and its international partners been able to return considerable amounts of research and samples for analysis.
Hydroptere this weekend
The Bay Weekend...
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| The GG on the way to Marin |
A weekend in San Francisco San Francisco Oakland and under the bay to San Francisco
It is about 30 minutes on the train to get down to where I was meeting my brother, since it was Friday night the traffic was going to be heavy so I wanted to get to a spot where we could miss the worst of it. I hopped off the train and met my brother and we then had to slog north on the west side of town, we were going to be going over the GG, that’s the Golden Gate, so we didn’t need to go through downtown. My brother had to work late so that is why I was meeting him in South SF. Usually we meet in downtown or he just picks me up at the airport. We were lucky the World Series was not playing, it would have been crazy to try to drive in town then. So once we met up we started the drive, it wasn’t that bad but a slow steady progress, finally we made the bridge and we were in Marin county.
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| Tomalis Bay Oyster Company |
The plan was to drive out to a friend’s house in west Marin, we would be touring that area on Saturday so it was a good starting place, though the first order was to pick up supplies. We stopped at a Latin market in San Rafael
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| Oysters on the grill |
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| The Western |
We made the house in a decent time, unloaded and were sitting with a drink in short order. Dinner? Yes, tacos using BBQed chicken. It was already 9 pm when we started cooking so dinner would be at 10 at least, very European dinning. Everything came together quickly and the tacos were great, grilled chicken, onions, cilantro, avocado, tomatoes, and my brother’s salsa. We made the ‘street tacos’ that we would get when we would go to Mexico
Late night drinks after dinner then off to bed, we were getting up early so we could head out and start the weekend. Well that was wishful thinking… Morning came and went and we were still trying to get going. We finally got out the house at noon and started the day with more tacos, this time egg and left-over chicken with some chorizo. Good stuff. The plan was to meet up with a friend at the Tomalis Bay Oyster Company and enjoy some fresh oysters in the sun.
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| In the Western Saloon |
Beautiful weather, for late October it was wonderful, like summer really. Not a cloud in the sky, almost 80 degrees and we were baking in the sun! We found a good table at the oyster place, bought a dozen to start, laid out our supplies and started to eat. Beer of course was there, as was hot sauce and cheese and crackers. A lot of people come and BBQ the oyster plus other things, but we just had them raw. Our friend arrived as did three dozen more oysters.
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| Sailing |
After four hours we were tired out and the sun was taking its toil. We wanted to BBQ again so we needed to stop for steaks, but there was one more stop before that. We wanted to go to this cool old bar in the town of Point Ryes Station
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| No wind... |
Sunday morning again brought a late start, but one final push to do away with the last of the Chorizo and eggs, yes more tacos. We were going to sail so we had to swing by my brothers to grab what we needed. Loaded the car with sails and supplies, then off to the boat. Again beautiful weather, the bad thing, not much wind. We headed out and killed the motor, and basically just drifted with the tide. Radio playing, sunshine, a few drinks and just relaxing on a wonderful weekend. I had to fly out that nigh so we couldn’t stay out all day, a few hours of relaxation then we needed to bring the boat in. We cleaned up and I had to head to the airport.
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| The southern Tomalis Bay |
I always love to go to the bay area, this is a wonderful region and there is so much to do, even if you don’t have a boat. The Tomalis Bay Oyster Company is about a 45 minute drive from San Francisco , just south of Marshal San Francisco
October 26, 2012
Fall sailing
So it is October and it is the best time to go to San Francisco. The weather is perfect, but that means there isn't much wind.... But a nice sail with 5 knots of breeze and warm weather make for enjoyable sailing. So this is what I will be doing this weekend, relaxing on a boat, enjoying the sailors drink (Rum and Pineapple), eating lots of good food and just having fun.
Stormy Saturn
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| These red, orange and green clouds (false color) in Saturn's northern hemisphere indicate the tail end of the massive 2010-2011 storm. Even after visible signs of the storm started to fade, infrared measurements continued to reveal powerful effects at work in Saturn's stratosphere. |
Data from Cassini's composite infrared spectrometer (CIRS) instrument revealed the storm's powerful discharge sent the temperature in Saturn's stratosphere soaring 150 degrees Fahrenheit (83 kelvins) above normal. At the same time, researchers at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., detected a huge increase in the amount of ethylene gas, the origin of which is a mystery. Ethylene, an odorless, colorless gas, isn't typically observed on Saturn. On Earth, it is created by natural and man-made sources.
First detected by Cassini in Saturn's northern hemisphere on Dec. 5, 2010, the storm grew so large that an equivalent storm on Earth would blanket most of North America from north to south and wrap around our planet many times. This type of giant disturbance on Saturn typically occurs every 30 Earth years, or once every Saturn year.
Not only was this the first storm of its kind to be studied by a spacecraft in orbit around the planet, but it was the first to be observed at thermal infrared wavelengths. Infrared data from CIRS allowed scientists to take the temperature of Saturn's atmosphere and to track phenomena that are invisible to the naked eye.
October 25, 2012
Expedition 33 Soyuz Docks to Station
http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/videogallery/index.html?media_id=154528491
The Soyuz capsule carrying the three Expedition 33/34 crew members docks to the International Space Station after its almost two-day journey from Earth.
The Soyuz capsule carrying the three Expedition 33/34 crew members docks to the International Space Station after its almost two-day journey from Earth.
Dorade
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| Yacca |
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| Dorade |
More videos os AC72 flipping
http://youtu.be/cRW21FubyY4
Here is another video of the AC72 Oracle flipping. Interesting to see, but it is obvious that they were going down-wind while heading into a wave chop, they buried the nose and the wing just pushed them over, classic pitch-pole.
Here is another video of the AC72 Oracle flipping. Interesting to see, but it is obvious that they were going down-wind while heading into a wave chop, they buried the nose and the wing just pushed them over, classic pitch-pole.
October 24, 2012
Arp 274
Dismasting....
http://youtu.be/JEmDq3aHQdQ
Here’s a great little dismasting video from the always-insane start of the Barcolana in Trieste, Italy.
Here’s a great little dismasting video from the always-insane start of the Barcolana in Trieste, Italy.
The Moth
The Moth class descended on Kaneohe YC, Hawaii for their Nationals last weekend, with the typical Hawaiian ‘Trades’ pumping in the full 16-20 knot range; perfect high-speed foiling conditions. This let the mothies get in 16 full races as well as a 16-race Slalom Champs that ended with a winner-take-all final (for 50 bucks and a bottle of rum).
Anthony Kotoun (Newport,RI) won the event with Eric Aakhus (Newport Beach, CA) in second, Dalton Bergan (Seattle, WA) in third, Matt Knowles (Newport, RI) in 4th and Charlie McKee (San Diego, CA) in 5th. With that cash and rum on the line Dalton Bergan won the high speed downwind slalom.
The US moth group used this a tune up for the worlds that KYC will host in Oct, 2013. The Moth class now moves to Charleston, SC for their winter series in Jan, Feb and the North Americans in April.
Ex 33/34
October 22, 2012
Double Bow
As the weather deigns to change and winter approaches, rainy days become more prevalent. The one good thing about a rainy day is the rainbows that appear in between the showers. Over this last weekend, the showers came and so did the rainbows. If the conditions are right, a double rainbow can be seen. This is caused by the light refracting off the water in the atmosphere and the component light wavelengths being stretched. A double rainbow will have the colors inverted, usually one side is more pronounced. The area between the colors is not empty, just that our eyes can’t see those colors. There is a visible change, more a darkening, but there is a visible change to the color in the arc. There has to be a lot of water vapor in the air and the sun angle right to create the double bow, but it is interesting to see this when you have the chance and the conditions are right.
Two Suns
Orbiting in the Habitable Zone of Two Suns
This diagram compares our own solar system to Kepler-47, a double-star system containing two planets, one orbiting in the so-called "habitable zone." This is the sweet spot in a planetary system where liquid water might exist on the surface of a planet. Unlike our own solar system, Kepler-47 is home to two stars. One star is similar to the sun in size, but only 84 percent as bright. The second star is diminutive, measuring only one-third the size of the sun and less than one percent as bright. As the stars are smaller than our sun, the systems habitable zone is closer in.
The habitable zone of the system is ring-shaped, centered on the larger star. As the primary star orbits the center of mass of the two stars every 7.5 days, the ring of the habitable zone moves around.
This artist's rendering shows the planet comfortably orbiting within the habitable zone, similar to where Earth circles the sun. One year, or orbit, on Kepler-47c is 303 days. While not a world hospitable for life, Kepler-47c is thought to be a gaseous giant, slightly larger than Neptune, where an atmosphere of thick bright water-vapor clouds might exist.
The discovery demonstrates the diversity of planetary systems in our galaxy and provides more opportunities to search for life as we know it.
Vestas boy's at it again....
The VESTAS Sailrocket 2 project will be returning to the waters of Walvis Bay, Namibia this September with a new hydrofoil package which they hope will bring them an Outright world speed sailing record.
http://youtu.be/JBH0J1MyELk
The record currently stands at 55.65 knots (64 mph) and is held by American Kite Surfer Rob Douglas. VESTAS Sailrocket 2 was built in the VESTAS R+D facilities on the Isle of Wight and launched in the Medina River in March 2011. The project then relocated to Namibia where ideal conditions occur on a regular basis.
From its launch in the UK, VESTAS Sailrocket 2 rapidly progressed up the speed sailing ladder and after only 23 runs, hit speeds over 50 knots down the magical mile long course at Walvis Bay's 'Speed-spot'. The team then made continual improvements to the boat and tried a number of underwater foil configurations but seemed to be hitting a 'glass ceiling' in performance in the low 50 knot speed range regardless of which foil options they tried or how much wind they sailed in.
VESTAS Sailrocket 2 is indeed a radical craft. It looks perhaps more like a plane than a boat because a lot of attention has been focused on the aerodynamic efficiency and stability of the craft however, she still relies very much on the hydrodynamics to allow her to carve across the wind. It is based on a concept where all the overturning forces typically associated with sailing craft are removed. This allows the boat to use the wind created by its own speed to generate a lot of its ultimate power without actually getting overpowered. Whilst VSR2 might actually be sailing in only 25 knots of real wind, at full speed the lightweight, carbon fibre boat and its rigid wing sail feels like it is sailing in over 60 knots of wind and yet doesn't require traditional systems of weights and levers to remain stable.
THE CAVITATION BARRIER
Once you start going through the water over 50 knots you are going to start encountering a phenomenon called cavitation. This can be likened to the hydrodynamic equivalent of the 'Sound Barrier'. The property of the water changes as it turns from liquid to vapour on certain parts of the foil. This requires a very different approach to how you design them. The problem gets even more complicated as air from the surface also tries to get sucked down onto the foil and cause it to lose grip. This mixture of air, vapour and very high-speed water is all very dynamic and extremely hard to model by computer or even in high-speed flow tanks. Most projects to date have simply pushed conventional foil theory to the limits and that's why speed sailing is stuck at the current speeds in the low 50's. VESTAS Sailrocket 2 was designed from the outset to be a breakthrough boat. It is designed to be an ideal testing platform for trialling new foil concepts which will allow us to break through this 'glass ceiling' and perform at speeds well over 60 knots.
October 20, 2012
October 19, 2012
Galaxy spin...........
http://youtu.be/_Ssc1GsqHds
Here is an interesting video of galaxy formation. A comprehensive study of hundreds of galaxies observed by the Keck telescopes in Hawaii and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revealed an unexpected pattern of change that extends back 8 billion years, or more than half the age of the universe.
"Astronomers thought disk galaxies in the nearby universe had settled into their present form by about 8 billion years ago, with little additional development since," said Susan Kassin, an astronomer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the study's lead researcher. "The trend we've observed instead shows the opposite, that galaxies were steadily changing over this time period."
Today, star-forming galaxies take the form of orderly disk-shaped systems, such as the Andromeda Galaxy or the Milky Way, where rotation dominates over other internal motions. The most distant blue galaxies in the study tend to be very different, exhibiting disorganized motions in multiple directions. There is a steady shift toward greater organization to the present time as the disorganized motions dissipate and rotation speeds increase. These galaxies are gradually settling into well-behaved disks.
Blue galaxies -- their color indicates stars are forming within them -- show less disorganized motions and ever-faster rotation speeds the closer they are observed to the present. This trend holds true for galaxies of all masses, but the most massive systems always show the highest level of organization.
Researchers say the distant blue galaxies they studied are gradually transforming into rotating disk galaxies like our own Milky Way.
"Previous studies removed galaxies that did not look like the well-ordered rotating disks now common in the universe today," said co-author Benjamin Weiner, an astronomer at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "By neglecting them, these studies examined only those rare galaxies in the distant universe that are well-behaved and concluded that galaxies didn't change."
Rather than limit their sample to certain galaxy types, the researchers instead looked at all galaxies with emission lines bright enough to be used for determining internal motions. Emission lines are the discrete wavelengths of radiation characteristically emitted by the gas within a galaxy. They are revealed when a galaxy's light is separated into its component colors. These emission lines also carry information about the galaxy's internal motions and distance.
Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe 2 (DEEP2) Redshift Survey, a project that employs Hubble and the twin 10-meter telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Located between 2 billion and 8 billion light-years away, the galaxies have stellar masses ranging from about 0.3 percent to 100 percent of the mass of our home galaxy.
The Milky Way galaxy must have gone through the same rough-and-tumble evolution as the galaxies in the DEEP2 sample, and gradually settled into its present state as the sun and solar system were being formed.
In the past 8 billion years, the number of mergers between galaxies large and small has decreased sharply. So has the overall rate of star formation and disruptions of supernova explosions associated with star formation. Scientists speculate these factors may play a role in creating the evolutionary trend they observe.
Now that astronomers see this pattern, they can adjust computer simulations of galaxy evolution until these models are able to replicate the observed trend. This will guide scientists to the physical processes most responsible for it.
Here is an interesting video of galaxy formation. A comprehensive study of hundreds of galaxies observed by the Keck telescopes in Hawaii and NASA's Hubble Space Telescope has revealed an unexpected pattern of change that extends back 8 billion years, or more than half the age of the universe.
"Astronomers thought disk galaxies in the nearby universe had settled into their present form by about 8 billion years ago, with little additional development since," said Susan Kassin, an astronomer at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Md., and the study's lead researcher. "The trend we've observed instead shows the opposite, that galaxies were steadily changing over this time period."
Today, star-forming galaxies take the form of orderly disk-shaped systems, such as the Andromeda Galaxy or the Milky Way, where rotation dominates over other internal motions. The most distant blue galaxies in the study tend to be very different, exhibiting disorganized motions in multiple directions. There is a steady shift toward greater organization to the present time as the disorganized motions dissipate and rotation speeds increase. These galaxies are gradually settling into well-behaved disks.
Blue galaxies -- their color indicates stars are forming within them -- show less disorganized motions and ever-faster rotation speeds the closer they are observed to the present. This trend holds true for galaxies of all masses, but the most massive systems always show the highest level of organization.
Researchers say the distant blue galaxies they studied are gradually transforming into rotating disk galaxies like our own Milky Way.
"Previous studies removed galaxies that did not look like the well-ordered rotating disks now common in the universe today," said co-author Benjamin Weiner, an astronomer at the University of Arizona in Tucson. "By neglecting them, these studies examined only those rare galaxies in the distant universe that are well-behaved and concluded that galaxies didn't change."
Rather than limit their sample to certain galaxy types, the researchers instead looked at all galaxies with emission lines bright enough to be used for determining internal motions. Emission lines are the discrete wavelengths of radiation characteristically emitted by the gas within a galaxy. They are revealed when a galaxy's light is separated into its component colors. These emission lines also carry information about the galaxy's internal motions and distance.
Deep Extragalactic Evolutionary Probe 2 (DEEP2) Redshift Survey, a project that employs Hubble and the twin 10-meter telescopes at the W. M. Keck Observatory in Hawaii. Located between 2 billion and 8 billion light-years away, the galaxies have stellar masses ranging from about 0.3 percent to 100 percent of the mass of our home galaxy.
The Milky Way galaxy must have gone through the same rough-and-tumble evolution as the galaxies in the DEEP2 sample, and gradually settled into its present state as the sun and solar system were being formed.
In the past 8 billion years, the number of mergers between galaxies large and small has decreased sharply. So has the overall rate of star formation and disruptions of supernova explosions associated with star formation. Scientists speculate these factors may play a role in creating the evolutionary trend they observe.
Now that astronomers see this pattern, they can adjust computer simulations of galaxy evolution until these models are able to replicate the observed trend. This will guide scientists to the physical processes most responsible for it.
October 18, 2012
Artemis
Saturn, just a nice picture
Saturn's northern storm marches through the planet's atmosphere in the top right of this false-color mosaic from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. This storm in the planet's atmosphere developed over several months. Earlier in the Cassini mission, the spacecraft chronicled a smaller storm in the southern hemisphere, called the "Dragon Storm."
Saturn's atmosphere and its rings are shown here in a false-color composite made from 12 images taken in near-infrared light through filters that are sensitive to varying degrees of methane absorption. Red and orange colors in this view indicate clouds that are deep in the atmosphere. Yellow and green colors, most noticeable along the top edge of the view, indicate intermediate clouds. White and blue indicate high clouds and haze. The rings appear as a thin horizontal line of bright blue because they are outside of the atmosphere and not affected by methane absorption. This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ring plane.
Janus' Craters
Jamus, moon of Saturn...
Shadows darken parts of some of Janus' large craters as Cassini takes a close look during its flyby of this Saturnian moon on March 27, 2012. Janus is 111 miles, or 179 kilometers across.
Saturn's moon Mimas
Mimas (246 miles, or 396 kilometers across) is near the bottom center of the image. Saturn's rings are also visible in the top right.
This view looks toward the anti-Saturn side of Dione (698 miles, or 1,123 kilometers across). North on Dione is up and rotated 20 degrees to the right. This view looks toward the northern, sunlit side of the rings from just above the ringplane.
The image was taken in visible light with the Cassini spacecraft narrow-angle camera on Dec. 12, 2011. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 377,000 miles (606,000 kilometers) from Mimas. The view was obtained at a distance of approximately 56,000 miles (91,000 kilometers) from Dione and at a Sun-Dione-spacecraft, or phase, angle of 42 degrees. Image scale is 1,773 feet (541 meters) per pixel on Dione.
The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. The Cassini orbiter and its two onboard cameras were designed, developed and assembled at JPL. The imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colo.
October 17, 2012
Sonic Boom Generator
If human beings are ever to fly faster than the speed of sound from one side of the country to another, we first have to figure out how to reduce the level of sonic boom generated by supersonic flight. Earlier this fall, a subscale model of a potential future low-boom supersonic aircraft designed by The Boeing Company was installed for testing in the supersonic wind tunnel at NASA's Glenn Research Center in Cleveland.
This model is a larger of two models used in the test. The model contains a force measurement balance used to capture force measurements (lift, drag). Depending on the type of test and on the tunnel, the model can be oriented any way. Pictured here, the model is actually upside down.
Another smaller model was used to capture measurements of the off-body pressures that create a sonic boom.
The tests are among those being conducted by NASA and its partners to identify technologies and designs to achieve a level of sonic boom so low that it barely registers on buildings and people below.
More onthe AC72
The Oracle team, headquartered at Pier 80 south of the Bay Bridge Golden Gate .
Tom Slingsby, the tactician of Oracle Team USA 17 - the 72-foot racing yacht - said the flip occurred in stiff winds of about 24 knots as he and the rest of the crew were "pushing the limits of the boat." Tuesday marked the eighth time the crew had taken the craft onto the water since its August launch.
Slingsby said the wing was destroyed. "We didn't really know what to expect with the new boat," he said. "When the nose went into the water, most of us hung on and then jumped off. Everyone has a few bumps and bruises, but nothing serious."
Oracle team spokeswoman Lisa Ramsperger said crews would attempt to tow the boat to Pier 80 for repairs. That task was expected to last well into the night and possibly into Wednesday.
Ramsperger said she could not estimate how long repairs will take or the cost.
On the AC72's first voyage, the centerboard broke off and the boat was idled two weeks for repairs. The issue for Oracle now is that their boat will be out of action for some time while they do repairs. And that will adversely affect their training and their assessment of the craft.
Oracle is preparing a second AC72 boat, but it won't be ready until February.
From the SF Chronicle
More shots of AC 72
The giant wing just kept the pressure on the boat and since the front was underwater, the wing just push the boat end over end. Once over, the wasn't much they could do to flip it back over, it is just to big. It will be interesting to see what happens next. Maybe Team New Zealand will also flip???
Oracle goes over..
http://youtu.be/drgglIebuQY
Here is the link to the flip of the AC72 yesterday on the bay. The wing is gone and the hull was towed back upside-down. A very costly crash but it was expected that one of these would flip at some time. It is a learning experience for the crew.
Here is the link to the flip of the AC72 yesterday on the bay. The wing is gone and the hull was towed back upside-down. A very costly crash but it was expected that one of these would flip at some time. It is a learning experience for the crew.October 16, 2012
AC 72 flips in the bay...
Tulip
Portland Rose Gardens
In Portland Oregon Washington Park , there is the Rose Test Garden 
Future in air travel???
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| Concept aircraft |
Three industry teams spent 2011 studying how to meet NASA's goals for making future aircraft burn 50 percent less fuel than aircraft that entered service in 1998, emit 75 percent fewer harmful emissions; and shrink the size of geographic areas affected by objectionable airport noise by 83 percent.
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| Supersonic |
Our ability to fly at supersonic speeds over land in civil aircraft depends on our ability to reduce the level of sonic booms. NASA has been exploring a variety of options for quieting the boom, starting with design concepts and moving through wind tunnel tests to flight tests of new technologies. This rendering of a possible future civil supersonic transport shows a vehicle that is shaped to reduce the sonic shockwave signature and also to reduce drag.
Lockheed Martin's advanced vehicle concept proposes a box wing design, which is now feasible thanks to modern lightweight composite (nonmetallic) materials, landing gear technologies and other advancements. Its Rolls Royce Liberty Works Ultra Fan Engine achieves a bypass ratio (flow of air around engine compared to through the engine) nearly five times greater than current engines, pushing the limits of turbofan technology to maximize efficiency.
Lockheed Martin's advanced vehicle concept proposes a box wing design, which is now feasible thanks to modern lightweight composite (nonmetallic) materials, landing gear technologies and other advancements. Its Rolls Royce Liberty Works Ultra Fan Engine achieves a bypass ratio (flow of air around engine compared to through the engine) nearly five times greater than current engines, pushing the limits of turbofan technology to maximize efficiency.
Cassini spacecraft celebrates 15 years....
Today, NASA's Cassini spacecraft celebrates 15 years of uninterrupted drive time, earning it a place among the ultimate interplanetary road warriors.
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| Orbital track around Saturn |
Since launching on Oct. 15, 1997, the spacecraft has logged more than 3.8 billion miles (6.1 billion kilometers) of exploration - enough to circle Earth more than 152,000 times. After flying by Venus twice, Earth, and then Jupiter on its way to Saturn, Cassini pulled into orbit around the ringed planet in 2004 and has been spending its last eight years weaving around Saturn, its glittering rings and intriguing moons.
And, lest it be accused of refusing to write home, Cassini has sent back some 444 gigabytes of scientific data so far, including more than 300,000 images. More than 2,500 reports have been published in scientific journals based on Cassini data, describing the discovery of the plume of water ice and organic particles spewing from the moon Enceladus; the first views of the hydrocarbon-filled lakes of Saturn's largest moon Titan; the atmospheric upheaval from a rare, monstrous storm on Saturn and many other curious phenomena.
"As Cassini conducts the most in-depth survey of a giant planet to date, the spacecraft has been flying the most complex gravity-assisted trajectory ever attempted," said Robert Mitchell, Cassini program manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. "Each flyby of Titan, for example, is like threading the eye of the needle. And we've done it 87 times so far, with accuracies generally within about one mile [1.6 kilometers], and all controlled from Earth about one billion miles [1.5 billion kilometers] away."
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| Fountains of Enceladus |
The complexity comes in part from the spacecraft lining up visits to more than a dozen of Saturn's 60-plus moons and sometimes swinging up to get views of poles of the planet and moons. Cassini then works its way back to orbiting around Saturn's equator, while staying on track to hit its next targeted flyby. The turn-by-turn directions that mission planners write also have to factor in the gravitational influences of the moons and a limited fuel supply.
"I'm proud to say Cassini has accomplished all of this every year on-budget, with relatively few health issues," Mitchell said. "Cassini is entering middle age, with the associated signs of the passage of years, but it's doing remarkably well and doesn't require any major surgery."
The smooth, white paint of the high-gain antenna probably now feels rough to the touch, and some of the blankets around the body of the spacecraft are probably pitted with tiny holes from micrometeoroids. But Cassini still retains redundancy on its critical engineering systems, and the team expects it to return millions more bytes of scientific data as it continues to sniff, taste, watch and listen to the Saturn system.
And that's a good thing, because Cassini still has a daring, unique mission ahead of it. Spring has only recently begun to creep over the northern hemisphere of Saturn and its moons, so scientists are only beginning to understand the change wrought by the turning of the seasons. No other spacecraft has been able to observe such a transformation at a giant planet.
Starting in November 2016, Cassini will begin a series of orbits that wind it ever closer to Saturn. Those orbits kick off just outside Saturn's F ring, the outermost of the main rings. Then in April 2017, one final close encounter with Titan will put Cassini on a trajectory that will pass by Saturn inside its innermost ring, a whisper away from the top of Saturn's atmosphere. After 22 such close passes, the gravitational perturbation from one final distant Titan encounter will bring Cassini ever closer. On Sept. 15, 2017, after entry into Saturn's atmosphere, the spacecraft will be crushed and vaporized by the pressure and temperature of Saturn's final embrace to protect worlds like Enceladus and Titan, with liquid water oceans under their icy crusts that might harbor conditions for life.
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