There is poetry in the fact that when the Cassini spacecraft burns up in Saturn's atmosphere on Friday, ending its mission, the bus-sized spacecraft will become a part of the planet it has admired from close range for 13 years.
But as with all things involving spaceflight, the reason for Cassini's collision course with Saturn is nothing if not practical.
SEE ALSO:How Cassini quietly transformed our understanding of the solar systemCassini is quickly running out of rocket fuel, and if left to its own devices, the orbiter would wander around the Saturn system uncontrolled, eventually crashing into whatever body that's unlucky enough to be in its way.
This means that the probe could smash into one of the planet's potentially habitable moons. And that won't work for the people who control it back on Earth.
Via GiphyInstead of allowing Cassini to crash where it may, scientists have programmed the spacecraft to plunge into Saturn's atmosphere all in the name of protecting the planet's natural satellites.
"Cassini is ending its 13-year tour of the Saturn system with an intentional plunge into the planet to ensure Saturn's moons -- in particular Enceladus, with its subsurface ocean and signs of hydrothermal activity -- remain pristine for future exploration," NASA said in a statement.
On Earth, there's life basically anywhere there's water, so NASA is particularly protective of other worlds that may have water on them or within them.
In other words, NASA wants to keep Enceladus, Titan, and other moons in the Saturn system untouched because who knows what a crash-landing from a human-made probe could do to any native alien life that might be budding there.
And of course, we wouldn't know much of anything about Enceladus and Titan without Cassini's dogged work exploring Saturn and its many moons.
But beyond concerns about interrupting the lives of microbes, NASA and other space agencies try to take a "leave no trace" approach to space exploration when they can, opting for controlled crashes into planetary bodies when they have to park a spacecraft somewhere after a (hopefully) long mission.
Cassini has been exploring Saturn since 2004 when it arrived at the ringed planet. The mission launched in 1997, and has essentially revolutionized our understanding of how Saturn and its complex system of 53 official moons works.
The spacecraft is now on course to crash into Saturn Friday, when mission managers will lose touch with the spacecraft at about 7:55 a.m. ET.
(责任编辑：綜合)
Over 82,000 evacuate as Blue Cut fire rapidly spreads in southern CaliforniaSnapchat releases new lens to help teach users American Sign Language
'Marry Me' English bulldog steals scenes and heartsSamsung announces selfMajor earthquake and multiple aftershocks rock central ItalyThe U.S. will no longer have the final say on internet domain names
The National Telecommunications Information Admistration (NTIA) announced via
。 blog post 。on Tuesday
...[详细]Who killed Xavier on 'The Afterparty?' An investigation.
With The Afterparty's finale approaching and still no leads on the killer, we have some theories. Ap
...[详细]Google's new 'highly cited' label highlights original reporting on the search engine
Misinformation is a neverending problem on the internet and the Big Tech companies are always lookin
...[详细]10 best free movies included with Amazon Prime Video
Are you making the most out of your Amazon Prime subscription? Sure, you know to turn to Prime Video
...[详细]Airbnb activates disaster response site for Louisiana flooding
Airbnb has activated its disaster response page following the record-breaking flooding in Louisiana.
...[详细]Tesla Tequila shows up in online store for $420, sells out immediately
You had a chance to own a limited edition Tesla tequila bottle, but you blew it. On Wednesday, right
...[详细]'The Flight Attendant' Season 2 review: Silly, stylish, and low on substance
I never understood the appeal of The Flight Attendant, and I still don't. Well, at first I thought I
...[详细]Apple reportedly planning iPhone subscription offering
Why would anyone want to purchase a smartphone outright when they could instead just rent it indefin
...[详细]Here's George Takei chilling in zero gravity for the 'Star Trek' anniversary
There's nothing like good friends, good memories and zero gravity to celebrate a milestone. 。In honor
...[详细]How to watch the first civilian astronauts launch to the ISS
Four civilians will soon about to embark on their first venture to the ISS — and you can watch
...[详细]Olympics official on Rio's green diving pool: 'Chemistry is not an exact science'
NASA made a poster for the next space station crew with retro appeal