NEW YORK: National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) said that on Monday, its Cassini spacecraft reached its final flyby past Saturn’s Dione moon. During the mission to the sixth planet from the Sun, Cassini spacecraft has flown close by Dione four times.
The United States space agency’s Cassini spacecraft, which has studied Saturn and its numerous natural satellites since it arrival there in 2004, has flown close by Saturn’s Dione moon four times.
Bonnie Buratti, member of Cassini science team at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, said, “Dione has been an enigma, giving hints of active geologic processes, including a transient atmosphere and evidence of ice volcanoes. However, we have by no means discovered the smoking gun”.
Currently, Cassini spacecraft is trying to find evidence which could prove that there is geological activity on the moon. The space agency will release pictures from the flyby soon. According to NASA scientists, the spacecraft’s recently completed flyby will help them learn about Dione’s internal composition. The scientists have also planned to compare Dione’s composition with Saturn’s other moons. NASA has already discovered that the planet’s two other moons, Titan and Enceladus, can have oceans beneath their surfaces.
The flyby could provide researchers an opportunity to see whether Dione has geological activity or not. The NASA spacecraft’s closest flyby of the moon took place in 2011, when the spacecraft was approximately 60 miles above the moon’s surface.
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