1 00:00:09,241 --> 00:00:12,512 - [Narrator] Ask someone to draw a picture of a planet, 2 00:00:12,512 --> 00:00:14,647 and odds are it will be this one. 3 00:00:16,749 --> 00:00:19,551 It is the sixth planet out from the sun 4 00:00:19,551 --> 00:00:22,188 and the second-largest in our solar system. 5 00:00:23,556 --> 00:00:26,225 It is, of course, Saturn, 6 00:00:26,225 --> 00:00:29,829 a world encircled not only in majestic rings 7 00:00:29,829 --> 00:00:32,431 but in an array of moons that have been likened 8 00:00:32,431 --> 00:00:34,601 to a solar system in miniature. 9 00:00:37,870 --> 00:00:41,374 (rocket boosters roaring) 10 00:00:43,276 --> 00:00:47,179 In 1997, an international mission was launched to Saturn 11 00:00:47,179 --> 00:00:49,782 that would, for the first time, 12 00:00:49,782 --> 00:00:53,652 attempt to place an orbiting spacecraft around the planet 13 00:00:53,652 --> 00:00:57,957 and land a probe on a moon in the outer solar system. 14 00:00:59,959 --> 00:01:02,161 But this was a mission that had to 15 00:01:02,161 --> 00:01:04,130 fight its way to the launch pad. 16 00:01:05,632 --> 00:01:06,899 - [Lew] We're going to have to operate 17 00:01:06,899 --> 00:01:08,567 under a very strict fund ceiling, 18 00:01:08,567 --> 00:01:11,270 one that is imposed by Congress. 19 00:01:11,270 --> 00:01:13,973 - [Casini] This will require doing business 20 00:01:13,973 --> 00:01:17,510 in a drastically different way than we've done before. 21 00:01:17,510 --> 00:01:21,381 - [Bob] It took a lotta time, a lotta negotiating, 22 00:01:21,381 --> 00:01:24,284 a lot of compromises to make that work. 23 00:01:24,284 --> 00:01:27,186 - [Julie] The first time I saw the spacecraft together 24 00:01:27,186 --> 00:01:29,722 when we stacked without the blankets, we were just, 25 00:01:29,722 --> 00:01:32,425 we were without words standing out there. 26 00:01:32,425 --> 00:01:34,226 - [Narrator] The journey to Saturn 27 00:01:34,226 --> 00:01:36,596 would take seven long years, 28 00:01:36,596 --> 00:01:41,134 but the success, or failure, of being captured into orbit 29 00:01:41,134 --> 00:01:45,872 depended on what would happen during just three hours. 30 00:01:47,172 --> 00:01:49,141 - [Charles] The engine better fire, 31 00:01:49,141 --> 00:01:51,711 otherwise we'll end with a flyby. 32 00:01:51,711 --> 00:01:52,545 - Copy. 33 00:01:52,545 --> 00:01:53,980 DCS Fault Protection. 34 00:01:53,980 --> 00:01:56,048 - [Linda] I think as a ring scientist, 35 00:01:56,048 --> 00:01:58,318 my greatest concern was really crossing 36 00:01:58,318 --> 00:02:00,520 through that gap in the F and G rings. 37 00:02:00,520 --> 00:02:04,356 It would only have taken one marble sized particle 38 00:02:04,356 --> 00:02:06,792 in the wrong place in the spacecraft 39 00:02:06,792 --> 00:02:09,329 to perhaps have ended the mission. 40 00:02:09,329 --> 00:02:11,964 - [Man] So I would lie in bed at night and think about 41 00:02:11,964 --> 00:02:14,166 what other tests should we do? 42 00:02:14,166 --> 00:02:16,735 What other question should I be asking? 43 00:02:16,735 --> 00:02:19,672 What should we be poking out here that we haven't done yet? 44 00:02:20,973 --> 00:02:23,376 - [Julie] We chased everything that could go wrong 45 00:02:23,376 --> 00:02:24,677 down the rabbit hole. 46 00:02:24,677 --> 00:02:26,946 We went down every path of, if this goes wrong, 47 00:02:29,782 --> 00:02:28,147 what do we do? 48 00:02:29,782 --> 00:02:31,417 - [Earl] And this was one of those moments 49 00:02:31,417 --> 00:02:33,452 where you're either in orbit 50 00:02:33,452 --> 00:02:35,555 or you're a billion dollar flyby. 51 00:02:35,555 --> 00:02:37,656 - [Todd] Closest approach is just a little over 52 00:02:37,656 --> 00:02:39,092 two minutes away. 53 00:02:39,092 --> 00:02:42,728 Predicted temps today, -226 degrees Fahrenheit, 54 00:02:42,728 --> 00:02:45,031 winds of 1100 miles per hour. 55 00:02:45,031 --> 00:02:47,800 Hurricanes the size of the Earth. 56 00:02:47,800 --> 00:02:50,236 Cassini would do well to batten down the hatches. 57 00:03:14,593 --> 00:03:16,662 - [Narrator] Saturn was once but a single 58 00:03:16,662 --> 00:03:19,098 bright point of light in the night sky, 59 00:03:20,633 --> 00:03:24,170 but in 1610 Galileo peered through his telescope 60 00:03:24,170 --> 00:03:26,072 and saw something else. 61 00:03:27,706 --> 00:03:29,408 On either side of the planet, 62 00:03:29,408 --> 00:03:31,644 he thought there might be moons. 63 00:03:34,847 --> 00:03:37,884 Two years later, Galileo looked again. 64 00:03:39,752 --> 00:03:43,389 To his astonishment, the two objects had disappeared. 65 00:03:46,592 --> 00:03:49,895 Another two years passed and Galileo again 66 00:03:49,895 --> 00:03:51,931 trained his telescope on Saturn. 67 00:03:54,033 --> 00:03:56,669 The puzzling bulges had returned. 68 00:03:58,704 --> 00:04:01,741 This drawing shows how close Galileo came 69 00:04:01,741 --> 00:04:02,909 to solving the riddle, 70 00:04:04,510 --> 00:04:08,548 but he went to his grave without ever knowing the answer. 71 00:04:10,649 --> 00:04:13,786 A half century would pass before the Dutch scientist 72 00:04:13,786 --> 00:04:17,790 Christiaan Huygens realized the bulges were rings. 73 00:04:19,658 --> 00:04:23,162 As for their appearing and disappearing, 74 00:04:24,497 --> 00:04:27,666 when the rings are viewed from Earth edge on, 75 00:04:27,666 --> 00:04:29,269 they all but disappear. 76 00:04:32,604 --> 00:04:36,776 As time passed, Saturn came into closer focus, 77 00:04:38,610 --> 00:04:42,881 and in 1979, NASA's Pioneer 11 spacecraft 78 00:04:42,881 --> 00:04:45,584 gave the world the first closeup look 79 00:04:45,584 --> 00:04:48,187 at the planet and its rings. 80 00:04:50,623 --> 00:04:54,727 - We received several pictures yesterday afternoon 81 00:04:54,727 --> 00:04:58,731 and evening, and we'd like to run through some of those now. 82 00:04:58,731 --> 00:05:01,133 This is the one that came in here 83 00:05:01,133 --> 00:05:03,636 at about three o'clock yesterday afternoon. 84 00:05:03,636 --> 00:05:06,773 This is by far the most spectacular picture 85 00:05:06,773 --> 00:05:08,007 that we have so far. 86 00:05:09,274 --> 00:05:10,810 This is raw data. 87 00:05:10,810 --> 00:05:12,912 It has not been processed in any way. 88 00:05:14,314 --> 00:05:17,683 We can see the big banded planet and, of course, 89 00:05:17,683 --> 00:05:20,853 the ring system is very prominent in this picture. 90 00:05:20,853 --> 00:05:25,057 Also prominent is Saturn's largest moon, Titan, 91 00:05:25,057 --> 00:05:26,659 in the upper right-hand corner. 92 00:05:30,396 --> 00:05:33,566 - [Narrator] The two Voyager flybys soon followed, 93 00:05:35,334 --> 00:05:39,439 offering even more captivating views and discoveries. 94 00:05:41,173 --> 00:05:43,876 What these missions found left scientists 95 00:05:43,876 --> 00:05:47,680 clamoring to go again, and not just to pass by, 96 00:05:47,680 --> 00:05:49,349 but to stay. 97 00:05:50,616 --> 00:05:53,652 A blueprint and even some spare parts 98 00:05:53,652 --> 00:05:56,689 for just such an adventure already existed. 99 00:05:57,623 --> 00:05:59,525 NASA's Galileo mission, 100 00:05:59,525 --> 00:06:02,861 that sent an orbiter and a probe to Jupiter. 101 00:06:02,861 --> 00:06:05,765 Advocates in Europe and the United States 102 00:06:05,765 --> 00:06:09,135 argued for a similar mission destined for Saturn, 103 00:06:09,135 --> 00:06:12,238 one composed of an international consortium. 104 00:06:14,039 --> 00:06:16,709 How such a project with all its complexities 105 00:06:16,709 --> 00:06:19,511 could be done, no one really knew. 106 00:06:19,511 --> 00:06:24,049 Sorting out roles, responsibilities, and especially funding, 107 00:06:24,049 --> 00:06:26,552 took the better part of a decade. 108 00:06:28,187 --> 00:06:32,090 The European Space Agency offered to build the probe, 109 00:06:32,090 --> 00:06:36,361 named Huygens, to land on Saturn's moon Titan. 110 00:06:36,361 --> 00:06:39,432 The Italian Space Agency would build the main antenna 111 00:06:39,432 --> 00:06:41,100 and communication system. 112 00:06:42,268 --> 00:06:45,671 The spacecraft thrusters and the main engines 113 00:06:45,671 --> 00:06:48,941 would be provided by US commercial space companies. 114 00:06:51,009 --> 00:06:54,913 And NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory signed on 115 00:06:54,913 --> 00:06:56,882 to build and fly the spacecraft, 116 00:06:56,882 --> 00:06:59,551 to be named in honor of the 17th century 117 00:06:59,551 --> 00:07:02,722 astronomer Giovanni Cassini. 118 00:07:04,823 --> 00:07:08,561 JPL would also provide overall management of the mission. 119 00:07:09,728 --> 00:07:13,232 In total, 19 countries would provide hardware, 120 00:07:13,232 --> 00:07:17,036 while scientists would come from 26 nations. 121 00:07:17,036 --> 00:07:18,270 - Good morning. 122 00:07:18,270 --> 00:07:20,172 I wanna welcome all of you to JPL, 123 00:07:20,172 --> 00:07:21,874 and at the beginning of what is gonna be clearly 124 00:07:21,874 --> 00:07:23,909 a very exciting mission. 125 00:07:23,909 --> 00:07:26,078 I know that a lot of you have a... 126 00:07:26,078 --> 00:07:27,646 - [Narrator] This is the first gathering 127 00:07:27,646 --> 00:07:30,949 of Cassini Huygens scientists and engineers, 128 00:07:30,949 --> 00:07:34,753 their goal to transform this complex partnership 129 00:07:34,753 --> 00:07:37,489 into a functioning team. 130 00:07:37,489 --> 00:07:40,559 - Our Congress has had some agony over the program. 131 00:07:40,559 --> 00:07:43,428 For a time it looked as though only Cassini 132 00:07:43,428 --> 00:07:45,397 would be approved. 133 00:07:45,397 --> 00:07:48,400 - [Narrator] There are layers of unease in the room. 134 00:07:48,400 --> 00:07:50,236 The Europeans want to know that they'll be 135 00:07:50,236 --> 00:07:52,771 treated as equal partners. 136 00:07:52,771 --> 00:07:56,709 And there are also concerns about US reliability, 137 00:07:56,709 --> 00:07:59,144 given that NASA has recently dropped out 138 00:07:59,144 --> 00:08:00,612 of another partnership. 139 00:08:00,612 --> 00:08:01,880 - We're going to have to operate 140 00:08:01,880 --> 00:08:03,515 under a very strict fund ceiling, 141 00:08:03,515 --> 00:08:08,153 one that is imposed by Congress and an unyielding schedule. 142 00:08:08,153 --> 00:08:09,721 And we all have great challenges- 143 00:08:09,721 --> 00:08:11,290 - [Narrator] NASA has already warned 144 00:08:11,290 --> 00:08:12,858 that the mission will be canceled 145 00:08:12,858 --> 00:08:15,361 if the project strays over its budget. 146 00:08:16,762 --> 00:08:20,366 All eyes are on Cassini's first program manager, 147 00:08:20,366 --> 00:08:24,035 John Casani, who has already spoken of eliminating 148 00:08:24,035 --> 00:08:26,339 some of the science instruments. 149 00:08:26,339 --> 00:08:29,342 - Seriously like to welcome everybody. 150 00:08:29,342 --> 00:08:30,575 Nice to be here. 151 00:08:30,575 --> 00:08:32,945 A lot of old friends, a lot of new faces, 152 00:08:32,945 --> 00:08:34,947 which I hope we'll be friends before we're through 153 00:08:34,947 --> 00:08:36,682 with this process. 154 00:08:36,682 --> 00:08:39,051 But those of you who don't know me, 155 00:08:39,051 --> 00:08:44,056 will find out a lot in the next couple of years. 156 00:08:45,390 --> 00:08:48,927 This will require doing business in a fairly drastically 157 00:08:48,927 --> 00:08:51,463 different way than we've done before. 158 00:08:51,463 --> 00:08:53,198 We are all gonna have to strive for, 159 00:08:53,198 --> 00:08:56,668 as we go through this process, is a continual search, 160 00:08:56,668 --> 00:08:59,338 as my old friend Gentry Lee used to like to say, 161 00:08:59,338 --> 00:09:01,073 for the least unacceptable solution. 162 00:09:01,073 --> 00:09:03,242 There are gonna have to be compromises. 163 00:09:03,242 --> 00:09:05,044 We wanna work with you. 164 00:09:05,044 --> 00:09:08,313 - [Narrator] This was not what scientists had hoped to hear. 165 00:09:08,313 --> 00:09:11,216 - I think this is a very severe degrade 166 00:09:11,216 --> 00:09:12,918 in the capabilities of this mission. 167 00:09:12,918 --> 00:09:14,853 - What we did was we did all of these things 168 00:09:14,853 --> 00:09:17,523 to finally get down to something that we could afford. 169 00:09:17,523 --> 00:09:19,792 - That sounds to me like a very unwise thing to do. 170 00:09:19,792 --> 00:09:22,628 I mean, the essence of this mission is to get data back. 171 00:09:24,063 --> 00:09:25,998 - [Narrator] The friction between what scientists want 172 00:09:25,998 --> 00:09:29,101 and what engineers can do will be a theme 173 00:09:29,101 --> 00:09:31,537 running throughout the lifetime of the mission. 174 00:09:32,671 --> 00:09:35,307 So, we'll be deciding which of Cassini's 175 00:09:35,307 --> 00:09:38,810 12 different science instruments will have priority 176 00:09:38,810 --> 00:09:40,413 at any given time. 177 00:09:41,614 --> 00:09:44,583 First up to plead his case is the head 178 00:09:44,583 --> 00:09:48,688 of the science radar team, Charles Elachi. 179 00:09:48,688 --> 00:09:49,922 - Good morning. 180 00:09:49,922 --> 00:09:51,657 I understand from Dennis that the first speaker 181 00:09:51,657 --> 00:09:53,159 gets everything he asks for. 182 00:09:57,329 --> 00:09:59,865 There is a good thing and a bad thing about the radar. 183 00:09:59,865 --> 00:10:03,068 The good thing is that for every Saturn orbit, 184 00:10:03,068 --> 00:10:05,137 we need to operate only for one hour. 185 00:10:05,137 --> 00:10:07,707 You can have all the rest of the time, but one hour. 186 00:10:08,907 --> 00:10:10,409 The bad thing is that when we turn it on, 187 00:10:10,409 --> 00:10:12,244 the lights on the spacecraft will dim, 188 00:10:12,244 --> 00:10:14,279 you know, it'll go down. 189 00:10:14,279 --> 00:10:16,615 - [Narrator] Representing the needs of the imaging team 190 00:10:16,615 --> 00:10:19,151 is its leader, Carolyn Porco. 191 00:10:19,151 --> 00:10:20,786 - Rates which are lower than that. 192 00:10:20,786 --> 00:10:22,454 After all, we know what it will take 193 00:10:22,454 --> 00:10:24,756 to image the objects at Saturn, 194 00:10:24,756 --> 00:10:26,225 that we know are there. 195 00:10:26,225 --> 00:10:29,628 My question is, what is it that's there that we don't know 196 00:10:29,628 --> 00:10:32,498 and we want to have a very stable platform 197 00:10:32,498 --> 00:10:34,499 and be able to do long exposures. 198 00:10:34,499 --> 00:10:36,168 These are issues that ring scientists 199 00:10:36,168 --> 00:10:37,670 stay up late at night worrying about. 200 00:10:37,670 --> 00:10:39,204 - We are running a bit behind schedule 201 00:10:39,204 --> 00:10:40,706 so we shall skip the coffee break, 202 00:10:40,706 --> 00:10:43,875 but there is still coffee for those who can't survive. 203 00:10:43,875 --> 00:10:45,377 - [Narrator] One after another, 204 00:10:45,377 --> 00:10:48,180 the science teams take to the podium to make their pitches 205 00:10:48,180 --> 00:10:51,617 and at times to express their displeasure. 206 00:10:53,118 --> 00:10:56,455 - Okay, this is one of the smaller teams, 207 00:10:56,455 --> 00:10:59,391 and I suppose one of the smaller instruments, 208 00:10:59,391 --> 00:11:03,161 although perhaps not as small as the project might like. 209 00:11:03,161 --> 00:11:07,232 I'm afraid I have to say that we have to have 210 00:11:07,232 --> 00:11:09,568 an instrument that performs best 211 00:11:09,568 --> 00:11:12,304 within the planetary environment. 212 00:11:12,304 --> 00:11:15,040 So life is not as simple as perhaps 213 00:11:15,040 --> 00:11:16,876 some people have seen it. 214 00:11:18,109 --> 00:11:20,713 - The other challenge that we've had here 215 00:11:20,713 --> 00:11:23,916 is a recognition over the past few months that the... 216 00:11:23,916 --> 00:11:26,318 - [Narrator] Hoping to resolve these conflicts, 217 00:11:26,318 --> 00:11:28,854 Casani offers up an unexpected plan 218 00:11:28,854 --> 00:11:32,191 to put the scientists more in control. 219 00:11:32,191 --> 00:11:36,628 - We need to incentivize you to do the best job 220 00:11:36,628 --> 00:11:39,865 of making the best estimates of what it's gonna cost 221 00:11:39,865 --> 00:11:41,267 at the time of confirmation. 222 00:11:42,434 --> 00:11:43,869 - [Narrator] Instead of having decisions made 223 00:11:43,869 --> 00:11:45,337 from the top down, 224 00:11:45,337 --> 00:11:48,641 Casani proposes establishing a trading system. 225 00:11:48,641 --> 00:11:52,311 Each science team will be given a defined amount of money, 226 00:11:52,311 --> 00:11:55,180 mass, power and data rates. 227 00:11:55,180 --> 00:11:57,649 If later they need more of anything, 228 00:11:57,649 --> 00:11:59,885 they will have to work with the other teams 229 00:11:59,885 --> 00:12:01,720 to solve their problem. 230 00:12:01,720 --> 00:12:05,925 The scientists agree to this unusual bartering system. 231 00:12:05,925 --> 00:12:08,527 It is the first major step in building 232 00:12:08,527 --> 00:12:11,030 a functioning international team. 233 00:12:11,030 --> 00:12:12,797 - Any questions? 234 00:12:12,797 --> 00:12:14,400 All right, Dennis, thank you. 235 00:12:36,722 --> 00:12:38,657 - [Narrator] By the fall of 1997, 236 00:12:38,657 --> 00:12:40,992 what had once been just blueprints 237 00:12:40,992 --> 00:12:43,295 are now real pieces of hardware. 238 00:12:45,130 --> 00:12:47,332 For over the last six years, 239 00:12:47,332 --> 00:12:50,636 the mission has managed to survive being canceled, 240 00:12:50,636 --> 00:12:52,638 something another NASA spacecraft 241 00:12:52,638 --> 00:12:55,574 meant to rendezvous with a comet and an asteroid, 242 00:12:55,574 --> 00:12:57,209 was unable to do. 243 00:12:59,378 --> 00:13:02,447 This was part of a new NASA strategy to cut back 244 00:13:02,447 --> 00:13:04,749 on large and expensive spacecraft. 245 00:13:04,749 --> 00:13:08,754 And there was no disguising Cassini's size. 246 00:13:08,754 --> 00:13:10,355 It remains, to this day, 247 00:13:10,355 --> 00:13:14,493 the largest US interplanetary spacecraft ever built. 248 00:13:14,493 --> 00:13:17,730 Standing three stories tall, when fully loaded, 249 00:13:17,730 --> 00:13:20,966 it will weigh 12 and a half thousand pounds. 250 00:13:22,868 --> 00:13:25,137 - The first time I saw the spacecraft together, 251 00:13:25,137 --> 00:13:27,138 when we stacked without the blankets, 252 00:13:27,138 --> 00:13:30,609 I must have stood in the visitor gallery for 30 minutes. 253 00:13:30,609 --> 00:13:34,747 And it's... I don't know how to describe it. 254 00:13:34,747 --> 00:13:36,815 It's not yours anymore, you know. 255 00:13:36,815 --> 00:13:40,119 Even though I had been intimate with each piece 256 00:13:40,119 --> 00:13:42,221 and part of that spacecraft and put it together 257 00:13:42,221 --> 00:13:44,823 wire by wire and in part by part, 258 00:13:44,823 --> 00:13:48,993 to watch it come together as a whole entity was incredible. 259 00:13:48,993 --> 00:13:51,030 We were without words standing out there. 260 00:13:53,498 --> 00:13:55,533 - Every now and then we'll be working in here 261 00:13:55,533 --> 00:13:58,070 and you'll think, wow, this is going to Saturn 262 00:13:58,070 --> 00:14:01,540 and this probe is gonna land on Titan. 263 00:14:01,540 --> 00:14:03,976 And this is going somewhere where we've never 264 00:14:03,976 --> 00:14:07,146 seen things before and you get goosebumps from it. 265 00:14:08,446 --> 00:14:10,415 - [Narrator] The spacecraft has been designed 266 00:14:10,415 --> 00:14:12,718 with redundancy as a priority. 267 00:14:12,718 --> 00:14:16,187 Each critical system has an identical backup. 268 00:14:16,187 --> 00:14:19,858 And its advanced software will allow the spacecraft 269 00:14:19,858 --> 00:14:22,161 at times to fly on its own, 270 00:14:22,161 --> 00:14:25,397 and even self-repair computer glitches. 271 00:14:29,001 --> 00:14:34,006 In Cassini's interior are some 22,000 wire connections 272 00:14:35,174 --> 00:14:37,243 and more than seven miles of cabling. 273 00:14:38,409 --> 00:14:41,380 - I'm technically an engineering assistant, 274 00:14:41,380 --> 00:14:44,883 and what I do is cabling for the spacecraft 275 00:14:44,883 --> 00:14:46,785 and I've been doing it for 20 years. 276 00:14:49,855 --> 00:14:53,759 One of the really positive points about our mechanical team 277 00:14:53,759 --> 00:14:57,996 is that they never say no. 278 00:14:57,996 --> 00:14:59,964 They never seem to tire. 279 00:14:59,964 --> 00:15:01,767 They're always up. 280 00:15:01,767 --> 00:15:05,037 (chuckles) I don't think we could ask for a better team. 281 00:15:13,378 --> 00:15:15,314 - [Narrator] One of the last assembly tasks 282 00:15:15,314 --> 00:15:19,718 is to cover this bare spacecraft with blankets. 283 00:15:22,721 --> 00:15:25,990 Using machines more often used for fine tailoring 284 00:15:25,990 --> 00:15:27,959 than engineering, 285 00:15:27,959 --> 00:15:31,029 this reflective material is cut to protect the spacecraft 286 00:15:31,029 --> 00:15:34,967 early in the mission, when it flies toward the sun. 287 00:15:37,669 --> 00:15:40,238 This black fabric will do the opposite, 288 00:15:40,238 --> 00:15:43,609 absorbing and retaining heat out at Saturn, 289 00:15:43,609 --> 00:15:47,212 where sunlight is only 1% the strength found at Earth. 290 00:15:48,380 --> 00:15:50,415 The layers will also provide shielding 291 00:15:50,415 --> 00:15:52,217 from micro meteoroids, 292 00:15:52,217 --> 00:15:55,320 tiny particles of dust that could damage 293 00:15:55,320 --> 00:15:57,389 the spacecraft's electronics. 294 00:16:01,259 --> 00:16:02,761 This is tedious work, 295 00:16:02,761 --> 00:16:06,030 cutting, stitching and fitting hundreds 296 00:16:06,030 --> 00:16:08,534 of individually measured pieces. 297 00:16:09,635 --> 00:16:12,337 It is a job made even more challenging 298 00:16:12,337 --> 00:16:14,706 knowing that this intricate space quilt, 299 00:16:14,706 --> 00:16:17,576 like all of Cassini's major components, 300 00:16:17,576 --> 00:16:20,646 will have to be unmounted for shipping to Florida, 301 00:16:20,646 --> 00:16:23,782 where everything will be reassembled again. 302 00:16:25,617 --> 00:16:27,119 - We have had less problem with this 303 00:16:27,119 --> 00:16:30,288 than I can remember having on any other spacecraft. 304 00:16:30,288 --> 00:16:31,824 It's almost scary. 305 00:16:31,824 --> 00:16:33,692 It's just beautiful. 306 00:16:33,692 --> 00:16:34,960 No problems. 307 00:16:34,960 --> 00:16:36,729 No major problems anyway. 308 00:16:41,599 --> 00:16:44,269 - [Narrator] While transforming Cassini from a blueprint 309 00:16:44,269 --> 00:16:47,639 into a real spacecraft had gone exceptionally well, 310 00:16:47,639 --> 00:16:51,143 getting to the final design had been torturous. 311 00:16:54,145 --> 00:16:57,316 Facing budget cuts, the project was forced 312 00:16:57,316 --> 00:17:00,719 to make another least unacceptable decision. 313 00:17:01,920 --> 00:17:04,556 Instead of dropping science instruments, 314 00:17:04,556 --> 00:17:08,126 the spacecraft itself was scaled back by eliminating 315 00:17:08,126 --> 00:17:09,762 the scan platform, 316 00:17:09,762 --> 00:17:13,065 a kind of turntable required by some instruments 317 00:17:13,065 --> 00:17:14,666 needing motion. 318 00:17:14,666 --> 00:17:17,202 Without the platform, the entire spacecraft 319 00:17:17,202 --> 00:17:19,838 will have to rotate to aim at targets, 320 00:17:19,838 --> 00:17:23,509 resulting also in less observation time. 321 00:17:23,509 --> 00:17:27,179 But all of the science instruments have survived. 322 00:17:39,524 --> 00:17:41,693 Operations are now almost complete 323 00:17:41,693 --> 00:17:44,296 for the launch of Cassini Huygens. 324 00:17:44,296 --> 00:17:46,665 Already on the launch pad is the Air Force's 325 00:17:46,665 --> 00:17:49,368 heavy lifting Titan 4B 326 00:17:54,606 --> 00:17:57,176 Cassini and the probe have been reassembled. 327 00:17:58,309 --> 00:18:00,612 One of the last procedures involves 328 00:18:00,612 --> 00:18:03,916 loading onto the spacecraft its power supply, 329 00:18:03,916 --> 00:18:06,751 72 pounds of plutonium encased in 330 00:18:06,751 --> 00:18:11,089 what are called radio isotope thermoelectric generators, 331 00:18:11,089 --> 00:18:15,027 or mercifully called for short RTGs. 332 00:18:19,197 --> 00:18:22,668 RTGs have been used on previous missions, 333 00:18:24,035 --> 00:18:27,072 but recent nuclear power plant accidents 334 00:18:27,072 --> 00:18:29,942 and the loss of the Space Shuttle Challenger 335 00:18:29,942 --> 00:18:32,544 have heightened public fears of a launch accident 336 00:18:32,544 --> 00:18:34,446 spreading nuclear debris. 337 00:18:38,850 --> 00:18:41,152 Hoping to stop the launch, 338 00:18:41,152 --> 00:18:44,856 anti-nuclear groups file lawsuits, petition the White House, 339 00:18:44,856 --> 00:18:48,494 and hold demonstrations at the Kennedy Space Center. 340 00:18:49,995 --> 00:18:52,964 - Since this is the last public forum to ensure the public 341 00:18:52,964 --> 00:18:54,999 that everything is going to be all right, 342 00:18:54,999 --> 00:18:56,501 could you do that one last time 343 00:18:56,501 --> 00:18:58,669 and use your best argument to persuade, 344 00:18:58,669 --> 00:19:00,605 perhaps, some of your opponents? 345 00:19:00,605 --> 00:19:02,975 - RTGs were designed for accident conditions. 346 00:19:02,975 --> 00:19:04,309 We've designed them, we've tested them, 347 00:19:04,309 --> 00:19:06,210 we've analyzed for it, we've gone through 348 00:19:06,210 --> 00:19:08,079 a very lengthy review process. 349 00:19:08,079 --> 00:19:11,049 And in fact, these are very safe to use. 350 00:19:11,049 --> 00:19:12,416 There's not a risk to the public, 351 00:19:12,416 --> 00:19:14,186 even if there is an accident. 352 00:19:14,186 --> 00:19:16,988 - Would you all confirm your faith in this mission 353 00:19:16,988 --> 00:19:21,592 by telling us how many family members, kids, 354 00:19:21,592 --> 00:19:26,231 and grandkids you have here watching this launch with you? 355 00:19:26,231 --> 00:19:29,400 - Well, I have 30 members of my family here right now, 356 00:19:29,400 --> 00:19:31,636 including my two granddaughters. 357 00:19:31,636 --> 00:19:33,105 There's more on the way. 358 00:19:34,072 --> 00:19:36,041 (crowd laughing) 359 00:19:36,041 --> 00:19:38,243 I don't know if I have more grandchildren on the way, 360 00:19:38,243 --> 00:19:41,446 but I have more family on the way. 361 00:19:41,446 --> 00:19:45,783 The reality is there's no technology on the horizon 362 00:19:45,783 --> 00:19:49,120 that has the promise to be available 363 00:19:49,120 --> 00:19:51,723 in the foreseeable future at all 364 00:19:51,723 --> 00:19:54,793 that could be used for feigning power 365 00:19:54,793 --> 00:19:56,361 way in outer space, 366 00:19:56,361 --> 00:19:59,297 where there is effectively very little sunlight. 367 00:19:59,297 --> 00:20:03,968 At Saturn, we've got a 1% of what we have here on Earth. 368 00:20:03,968 --> 00:20:05,503 We know Cassini is safe. 369 00:20:05,503 --> 00:20:10,475 The generator is designed to be robust in the environments. 370 00:20:11,376 --> 00:20:14,112 We do not rely on success. 371 00:20:14,112 --> 00:20:17,415 We make it compatible with the environments 372 00:20:17,415 --> 00:20:20,285 that might be generated and it's safe. 373 00:20:20,285 --> 00:20:22,888 I invited everyone I love to the launch. 374 00:20:22,888 --> 00:20:24,122 - [Man] Will there be information 375 00:20:24,122 --> 00:20:25,557 on the success of this launch too? 376 00:20:25,557 --> 00:20:26,625 - Absolutley. 377 00:20:27,993 --> 00:20:30,195 You can find us with a bottle of champagne some place. 378 00:20:35,600 --> 00:20:38,436 - [Man] FLC, we have 325 and 326 complete. 379 00:20:38,436 --> 00:20:39,338 Roger. 380 00:20:42,741 --> 00:20:46,911 - [Man] EA and LCC 327 and 328 on time. 381 00:20:46,911 --> 00:20:48,546 Roger. 382 00:20:48,546 --> 00:20:50,482 - [Woman] LCC, roger. 383 00:20:50,482 --> 00:20:51,816 - [Man] The Air Force launch controller 384 00:20:51,816 --> 00:20:53,117 has given a clear to launch. 385 00:20:53,117 --> 00:20:55,186 We've got to go from the range 386 00:20:55,186 --> 00:20:58,089 to proceed with the countdown. 387 00:20:58,089 --> 00:21:00,158 - [Woman] Launch sequence started. 388 00:21:01,159 --> 00:21:02,160 - [Man] T minus 10, 389 00:21:03,461 --> 00:21:04,929 nine, 390 00:21:04,929 --> 00:21:05,763 eight, 391 00:21:05,763 --> 00:21:06,865 seven, 392 00:21:06,865 --> 00:21:08,099 six, 393 00:21:08,099 --> 00:21:09,200 five, 394 00:21:09,200 --> 00:21:10,101 four, 395 00:21:10,101 --> 00:21:11,102 three, 396 00:21:11,102 --> 00:21:12,270 two, 397 00:21:12,270 --> 00:21:13,571 one, 398 00:21:13,571 --> 00:21:15,807 and liftoff of the Cassini spacecraft 399 00:21:15,807 --> 00:21:18,343 on a billion mile trek to Saturn. 400 00:21:19,411 --> 00:21:21,012 (cheering) 401 00:21:21,012 --> 00:21:22,914 Pitch program is in. 402 00:21:22,914 --> 00:21:26,518 (man talking indistinctly) 403 00:21:28,553 --> 00:21:30,455 - [Man] We have cleared the tower 404 00:21:30,455 --> 00:21:33,325 and the Cassini spacecraft is on its way to Saturn. 405 00:21:34,493 --> 00:21:35,761 T+20 seconds. 406 00:21:35,761 --> 00:21:37,095 All systems are go. 407 00:21:43,635 --> 00:21:46,705 Standing by for solid rocket booster separation. 408 00:21:52,110 --> 00:21:55,580 And the solid rocket boosters have been jettisoned. 409 00:21:55,580 --> 00:21:58,950 - [Man] Item 149 and 150. 410 00:21:58,950 --> 00:22:00,118 - [Man] All systems go. 411 00:22:15,567 --> 00:22:18,403 - [Man] All CAS core stations, ops engineer, 412 00:22:18,403 --> 00:22:20,605 launch vehicle reports payload fairing jettisoned. 413 00:22:34,119 --> 00:22:37,689 - This launch was, for all practical purposes, perfect. 414 00:22:39,090 --> 00:22:41,259 It was just right on target. 415 00:22:41,259 --> 00:22:44,328 And the navigation corrections that we normally, 416 00:22:44,328 --> 00:22:45,964 routinely expect to have to make 417 00:22:45,964 --> 00:22:49,234 for these kinds of launches was very small. 418 00:22:49,234 --> 00:22:51,236 It was an exceptionally good launch. 419 00:22:54,839 --> 00:22:57,475 - [Narrator] But the launch, as good as it was, 420 00:22:57,475 --> 00:23:01,413 was not powerful enough to send Cassini directly to Saturn. 421 00:23:06,151 --> 00:23:09,186 To get there, mission designers had long before 422 00:23:09,186 --> 00:23:12,223 devised a flight path, using mother nature 423 00:23:12,223 --> 00:23:16,527 to gain extra boosts of speed by flying by planets, 424 00:23:16,527 --> 00:23:19,598 what are called gravity assists. 425 00:23:19,598 --> 00:23:23,368 Cassini's route required two inward swing bys at Venus, 426 00:23:23,368 --> 00:23:26,805 next back to Earth, then outward to Jupiter, 427 00:23:27,973 --> 00:23:30,975 and finally on to Saturn. 428 00:23:30,975 --> 00:23:34,245 In all, a journey of over 2 billion miles, 429 00:23:34,245 --> 00:23:36,982 lasting nearly seven years. 430 00:23:43,455 --> 00:23:45,757 During the first Venus encounter, 431 00:23:45,757 --> 00:23:49,594 Cassini grazed just above the planet's surface, 432 00:23:49,594 --> 00:23:53,832 gaining an extra 16,000 miles per hour of speed. 433 00:23:58,069 --> 00:24:01,106 - The Cassini spacecraft has now been in space, 434 00:24:01,106 --> 00:24:03,974 in flight, for a little over eight months. 435 00:24:03,974 --> 00:24:06,244 And the performance of the spacecraft has been 436 00:24:06,244 --> 00:24:08,146 essentially flawless. 437 00:24:08,146 --> 00:24:11,282 Typically on spacecraft like this, of this complexity, 438 00:24:11,282 --> 00:24:15,153 there are issues, complications of one sort or another, 439 00:24:15,153 --> 00:24:18,423 that we have to work with some of our ground-based 440 00:24:18,423 --> 00:24:19,925 command capability. 441 00:24:19,925 --> 00:24:23,060 For the Cassini spacecraft, this just hasn't happened. 442 00:24:23,060 --> 00:24:24,963 It's a remarkable spacecraft. 443 00:24:27,332 --> 00:24:28,833 - [Narrator] True enough, 444 00:24:28,833 --> 00:24:32,604 but Cassini is not yet a fully complete spacecraft. 445 00:24:35,240 --> 00:24:38,609 - We had enough flight software on board at launch 446 00:24:38,609 --> 00:24:41,812 to be able to fly the spacecraft, operate it, navigate it, 447 00:24:41,812 --> 00:24:44,616 and not a whole lot more than that. 448 00:24:45,784 --> 00:24:48,252 - When we launched, we had seven years 449 00:24:48,252 --> 00:24:50,589 to get to Saturn and we actually 450 00:24:50,589 --> 00:24:55,594 completely changed out the computer system twice in flight. 451 00:24:56,728 --> 00:24:58,930 We would take the old computer software 452 00:24:58,930 --> 00:25:02,533 and then load up the new software in the backup computer, 453 00:25:02,533 --> 00:25:04,402 watch it for a while, make sure it was stable. 454 00:25:04,402 --> 00:25:06,905 And then we would swap and make the backup 455 00:25:06,905 --> 00:25:07,872 the prime computer. 456 00:25:07,872 --> 00:25:10,007 Make sure it was stable. 457 00:25:10,007 --> 00:25:12,444 - [Narrator] As engineers worked on completing 458 00:25:12,444 --> 00:25:15,746 Cassini's software, scientists started lobbying 459 00:25:15,746 --> 00:25:17,282 to begin using their instruments 460 00:25:17,282 --> 00:25:20,285 far ahead of the agreed upon schedule. 461 00:25:21,953 --> 00:25:23,555 - The cartoon. 462 00:25:23,555 --> 00:25:24,922 You gotta see the cartoon. 463 00:25:24,922 --> 00:25:26,424 You gotta see the whole thing. 464 00:25:26,424 --> 00:25:29,961 So the idle spacecraft is the devil's playground. 465 00:25:30,995 --> 00:25:32,263 For the first three years, 466 00:25:32,263 --> 00:25:34,265 we weren't supposed to do anything. 467 00:25:34,265 --> 00:25:36,567 We were supposed to fly a rock. 468 00:25:36,567 --> 00:25:39,771 And we were just gonna go take this, 469 00:25:39,771 --> 00:25:43,074 take the spacecraft, correct it engineering wise, 470 00:25:43,074 --> 00:25:45,777 fly it by Venus, a couple of times by Earth, 471 00:25:45,777 --> 00:25:48,145 and we really weren't gonna do much science. 472 00:25:48,145 --> 00:25:50,181 And here were the scientists saying, 473 00:25:50,181 --> 00:25:51,916 "You've got this great spacecraft, 474 00:25:51,916 --> 00:25:54,752 everything's working on it, you don't have to check... 475 00:25:54,752 --> 00:25:56,454 You know, you don't have to redo your thermal. 476 00:25:56,454 --> 00:25:58,522 You don't have to redo this. 477 00:25:58,522 --> 00:26:00,292 Let's do science." 478 00:26:01,493 --> 00:26:06,263 And so I came in one day and this was on my door. 479 00:26:06,263 --> 00:26:08,667 The idle spacecraft is the devil's playground. 480 00:26:10,068 --> 00:26:13,571 I swore for years that one of the scientists 481 00:26:13,571 --> 00:26:15,173 had put that on my door. 482 00:26:15,173 --> 00:26:16,507 It was my boss. 483 00:26:16,507 --> 00:26:18,109 He put that on my door. 484 00:26:27,051 --> 00:26:28,253 - [Narrator] For the most part, 485 00:26:28,253 --> 00:26:30,521 the scientists were accommodated, 486 00:26:30,521 --> 00:26:32,556 but the project's priority was first 487 00:26:32,556 --> 00:26:34,793 getting safely past the Earth, 488 00:26:34,793 --> 00:26:37,862 which occurred in the summer of 1999, 489 00:26:37,862 --> 00:26:41,866 giving Cassini another 12,000 miles per hour of speed. 490 00:26:47,805 --> 00:26:51,342 The next milestones were passing beyond the orbit of Mars 491 00:26:51,342 --> 00:26:53,311 and the region of the asteroid belt. 492 00:27:01,118 --> 00:27:02,621 Then came Jupiter, 493 00:27:03,654 --> 00:27:06,191 where Cassini saw raging storms, 494 00:27:06,191 --> 00:27:08,193 some centuries old. 495 00:27:09,594 --> 00:27:13,598 Cassini also teamed up with the venerable Galileo spacecraft 496 00:27:13,598 --> 00:27:16,768 to jointly measure Jupiter's magnetosphere, 497 00:27:16,768 --> 00:27:19,370 a bubble of charged particles trapped 498 00:27:19,370 --> 00:27:22,140 within the planet's magnetic field. 499 00:27:23,274 --> 00:27:27,345 At closest approach, Cassini took this image. 500 00:27:27,345 --> 00:27:31,883 At that time, the most detailed view of Jupiter ever seen. 501 00:27:44,662 --> 00:27:47,698 The Jupiter encounter served as a full dress rehearsal 502 00:27:47,698 --> 00:27:49,334 for what awaited at Saturn. 503 00:27:50,502 --> 00:27:52,103 It revealed there was work to be done 504 00:27:52,103 --> 00:27:55,306 in addressing Cassini's design compromise. 505 00:27:55,306 --> 00:27:58,209 The lack of the scan platform that would have allowed 506 00:27:58,209 --> 00:28:00,812 simultaneous use of science instruments, 507 00:28:00,812 --> 00:28:04,382 needing either to move or to be rock steady. 508 00:28:06,517 --> 00:28:08,419 - It meant you had to turn the spacecraft 509 00:28:08,419 --> 00:28:11,356 every time you wanted to point an instrument someplace. 510 00:28:11,356 --> 00:28:14,158 And we had 12 instruments, 511 00:28:14,158 --> 00:28:16,794 and each instrument generally had 512 00:28:16,794 --> 00:28:19,830 different pointing druthers, if not in fact, 513 00:28:19,830 --> 00:28:22,233 hard and fast pointing requirements. 514 00:28:22,233 --> 00:28:24,936 And so there was an awful lot of negotiation 515 00:28:24,936 --> 00:28:27,872 that went on between the different science teams, 516 00:28:27,872 --> 00:28:30,875 the different instrument representatives, 517 00:28:30,875 --> 00:28:33,043 in deciding who was gonna get to control 518 00:28:33,043 --> 00:28:35,480 the pointing of the spacecraft when. 519 00:28:35,480 --> 00:28:38,917 It took a lot of time, a lot of negotiating, 520 00:28:38,917 --> 00:28:41,686 a lot of compromises to make that work. 521 00:28:45,289 --> 00:28:46,958 - [Narrator] Despite this restraint, 522 00:28:46,958 --> 00:28:49,760 Cassini could now boast of being the most capable 523 00:28:49,760 --> 00:28:52,763 interplanetary spacecraft ever sent out 524 00:28:52,763 --> 00:28:54,199 into the solar system. 525 00:29:13,918 --> 00:29:16,888 After a journey of nearly seven years, 526 00:29:16,888 --> 00:29:21,425 Cassini and the Huygens probe are nearing Saturn's doorstep. 527 00:29:21,425 --> 00:29:24,395 Whether two decades of dreaming, planning, 528 00:29:24,395 --> 00:29:27,765 building, and undertaking this arduous journey 529 00:29:27,765 --> 00:29:31,269 will be rewarded, will soon be known. 530 00:29:31,269 --> 00:29:34,438 For just ahead is the most dangerous moment 531 00:29:34,438 --> 00:29:36,607 that Cassini will face. 532 00:29:36,607 --> 00:29:38,442 SOI. 533 00:29:38,442 --> 00:29:40,445 Saturn Orbit Insertion. 534 00:29:43,380 --> 00:29:47,385 No one is more excited, or anxious, about this moment 535 00:29:47,385 --> 00:29:49,553 than Charles Elachi. 536 00:29:49,553 --> 00:29:52,256 In addition to still being the team lead 537 00:29:52,256 --> 00:29:54,458 for Cassini's radar experiment, 538 00:29:54,458 --> 00:29:56,160 he now heads JPL. 539 00:29:56,160 --> 00:30:00,098 - Cassini is probably one of the most exciting missions 540 00:30:00,098 --> 00:30:05,103 ever undertaken by the US and it deserves more credit. 541 00:30:06,304 --> 00:30:08,739 So when we come to the orbit insertion, 542 00:30:08,739 --> 00:30:11,242 after advocating for it, selling it, 543 00:30:11,242 --> 00:30:14,278 building it and flying it, 544 00:30:14,278 --> 00:30:17,182 it was a really very sobering moment. 545 00:30:18,783 --> 00:30:23,454 The engine better fire, otherwise we'll end with a fly by. 546 00:30:24,922 --> 00:30:27,958 You have to remember that we had the Mars Observer, 547 00:30:27,958 --> 00:30:31,062 where when we turned on the engine, the thing disappeared. 548 00:30:33,730 --> 00:30:35,633 - [Narrator] 11 years before, 549 00:30:35,633 --> 00:30:38,302 as Mars Observer was approaching Mars, 550 00:30:38,302 --> 00:30:40,971 the spacecraft was commanded to pressurize 551 00:30:40,971 --> 00:30:42,473 its propulsion system. 552 00:30:43,908 --> 00:30:47,045 The spacecraft was never heard from again. 553 00:30:49,780 --> 00:30:53,117 It's believed a massive rupture in the fuel lines occurred, 554 00:30:53,117 --> 00:30:57,021 putting the spacecraft into an unrecoverable spin. 555 00:31:02,159 --> 00:31:04,095 We have about 15, 20 minutes. 556 00:31:04,095 --> 00:31:06,731 This is Bob Mitchell, who is the project manager. 557 00:31:08,165 --> 00:31:10,501 - Okay, well, I think we've got what'll be 558 00:31:10,501 --> 00:31:13,037 a rather interesting program laid out here 559 00:31:13,037 --> 00:31:14,304 for you this evening. 560 00:31:14,304 --> 00:31:16,974 Certainly gonna have a little drama to it. 561 00:31:16,974 --> 00:31:21,880 I was kinda confident, but I was worried, concerned. 562 00:31:23,314 --> 00:31:25,884 Nervous might be the best word as well. 563 00:31:30,655 --> 00:31:33,157 - [Narrator] To slow down enough to be captured 564 00:31:33,157 --> 00:31:34,758 by Saturn's gravity, 565 00:31:34,758 --> 00:31:38,296 Cassini will have to turn on its seldom used engine 566 00:31:38,296 --> 00:31:40,564 for 96 minutes. 567 00:31:40,564 --> 00:31:43,768 Anything less could result in flying past the planet, 568 00:31:44,736 --> 00:31:46,137 never to return. 569 00:31:50,942 --> 00:31:53,444 The flight path will take Cassini and the probe 570 00:31:53,444 --> 00:31:57,815 up through and back down a gap in Saturn's rings. 571 00:31:57,815 --> 00:31:59,650 There's worry that there could be particles 572 00:31:59,650 --> 00:32:01,985 in these regions large enough to damage, 573 00:32:01,985 --> 00:32:05,822 or even destroy, the spacecraft. 574 00:32:05,822 --> 00:32:07,591 - I think as a ring scientist, 575 00:32:07,591 --> 00:32:10,661 my greatest concern was really crossing through that gap 576 00:32:10,661 --> 00:32:12,663 in the F and G rings. 577 00:32:12,663 --> 00:32:16,500 It would only have taken one marble sized particle 578 00:32:16,500 --> 00:32:18,469 in the wrong place in the spacecraft 579 00:32:18,469 --> 00:32:20,271 to perhaps have ended the mission. 580 00:32:20,271 --> 00:32:23,307 So for me, the most, you know, breathtaking, 581 00:32:23,307 --> 00:32:25,175 the heart stopping time, was really 582 00:32:25,175 --> 00:32:26,878 crossing through the ring plane. 583 00:32:28,712 --> 00:32:30,514 - [Narrator] To reduce the risk, 584 00:32:30,514 --> 00:32:33,818 Cassini will fly through the gaps with its high gain antenna 585 00:32:33,818 --> 00:32:37,154 facing forward to act as a shield. 586 00:32:37,154 --> 00:32:39,957 During these times, the only signal coming back to Earth 587 00:32:39,957 --> 00:32:44,661 will be from a smaller antenna transmitting a single tone. 588 00:32:44,661 --> 00:32:47,898 The pitch, or frequency, of the tone will vary 589 00:32:47,898 --> 00:32:50,734 with changes to the spacecraft's speed. 590 00:32:50,734 --> 00:32:52,937 What's known as the Doppler effect. 591 00:32:54,338 --> 00:32:57,408 This will tell engineers how the spacecraft is performing... 592 00:32:58,409 --> 00:32:59,944 or not. 593 00:32:59,944 --> 00:33:02,379 - Zero is the reference frequency, 594 00:33:02,379 --> 00:33:04,548 the nominal frequency that we would see 595 00:33:04,548 --> 00:33:06,183 if there were no burn. 596 00:33:06,183 --> 00:33:07,819 So if the motor never ignited, 597 00:33:07,819 --> 00:33:10,020 what would happen is this line up here 598 00:33:10,020 --> 00:33:12,556 would just go right straight across. 599 00:33:12,556 --> 00:33:14,324 I would lie in bed at night and think about 600 00:33:14,324 --> 00:33:16,894 what other tests should we do? 601 00:33:16,894 --> 00:33:19,429 What other question should I be asking? 602 00:33:19,429 --> 00:33:22,399 What should we be poking at here that we haven't done yet? 603 00:33:22,399 --> 00:33:25,236 And this corner right here corresponds to 604 00:33:25,236 --> 00:33:27,104 where the burn should end. 605 00:33:27,104 --> 00:33:30,340 There wasn't any single thing that I could point to 606 00:33:30,340 --> 00:33:32,309 and say that thing right there 607 00:33:32,309 --> 00:33:34,545 has a fair chance of biting us. 608 00:33:34,545 --> 00:33:36,346 There just wasn't anything like that. 609 00:33:36,346 --> 00:33:40,785 But when you consider all the things that had to happen... 610 00:33:40,785 --> 00:33:42,986 or not happen, 611 00:33:42,986 --> 00:33:46,290 there were enough of them that the aggregate of them 612 00:33:46,290 --> 00:33:48,225 was cause for being nervous. 613 00:33:48,225 --> 00:33:49,459 And I was. 614 00:33:49,459 --> 00:33:52,697 That would be cause for some level of concern. 615 00:33:59,170 --> 00:34:03,341 - [Julie] SOI was such a, just such a team effort. 616 00:34:04,541 --> 00:34:06,343 We chased everything that could go wrong 617 00:34:06,343 --> 00:34:07,611 down the rabbit hole. 618 00:34:07,611 --> 00:34:09,881 We went down every path of, if this goes wrong, 619 00:34:12,883 --> 00:34:11,048 what do we do? 620 00:34:12,883 --> 00:34:17,889 There were 10,000 tests run to put together that insertion. 621 00:34:22,459 --> 00:34:24,662 - Something we've been preparing for 622 00:34:24,662 --> 00:34:28,198 for four or five years, testing and testing, 623 00:34:28,198 --> 00:34:31,602 awfulizing all of the possible things that could go wrong. 624 00:34:31,602 --> 00:34:35,238 And this was one of those moments where you're either 625 00:34:35,238 --> 00:34:37,942 in orbit or you're a billion dollar fly by. 626 00:34:46,417 --> 00:34:49,020 - Things continue to go well in Cassini mission control. 627 00:34:49,020 --> 00:34:52,523 We're approximately 33 minutes from burn start. 628 00:34:52,523 --> 00:34:54,692 There's our flight director, Julie Webster. 629 00:34:56,160 --> 00:34:59,163 This is one person we hope to not hear from tonight. 630 00:34:59,163 --> 00:35:02,967 This is system fault protection engineer, Paula Morgan. 631 00:35:02,967 --> 00:35:04,935 And if we hear from fault protection, 632 00:35:04,935 --> 00:35:07,638 that means we've had some sort of anomaly on the spacecraft. 633 00:35:07,638 --> 00:35:10,774 Doug Johnson, our radio science and SOI communicator. 634 00:35:10,774 --> 00:35:13,410 He's the one reporting most of the events we'll see tonight 635 00:35:13,410 --> 00:35:14,812 through that Doppler signal. 636 00:35:15,946 --> 00:35:19,016 - [Narrator] Also on console is Jan Berkeley. 637 00:35:19,016 --> 00:35:22,386 She first worked at JPL as a college intern. 638 00:35:22,386 --> 00:35:25,790 Now she's a key member of the Cassini team 639 00:35:25,790 --> 00:35:28,158 that creates the computer sequence commands 640 00:35:28,158 --> 00:35:30,594 that operate the spacecraft. 641 00:35:30,594 --> 00:35:32,363 - We would run them, make sure that there were 642 00:35:32,363 --> 00:35:33,864 no problems with that. 643 00:35:33,864 --> 00:35:36,300 If we needed to do testing, we would schedule testing. 644 00:35:36,300 --> 00:35:38,869 We were the ones that actually sent them to the spacecraft. 645 00:35:38,869 --> 00:35:40,705 And then we watched them clock out. 646 00:35:40,705 --> 00:35:43,040 That was the tense moment, was not pushing the button, 647 00:35:43,040 --> 00:35:45,610 it was waiting for it to come back, that it worked. 648 00:35:47,011 --> 00:35:50,280 And Saturn was so far away that it would take three hours 649 00:35:50,280 --> 00:35:52,049 just to get there and come back. 650 00:35:53,216 --> 00:35:55,319 - Current speed of the Cassini spacecraft: 651 00:35:55,319 --> 00:35:57,754 22.2 kilometers per second, 652 00:35:57,754 --> 00:36:00,290 which is just under 50,000 miles an hour. 653 00:36:00,290 --> 00:36:03,693 And increasing as Saturn's gravity draws us in. 654 00:36:03,693 --> 00:36:07,498 That's Shin Huh, our SOI systems engineer. 655 00:36:07,498 --> 00:36:11,102 Shin has eaten, breathed, slept, and lived SOI 656 00:36:11,102 --> 00:36:12,670 for many years. 657 00:36:12,670 --> 00:36:15,138 Tonight is his big night. 658 00:36:15,138 --> 00:36:17,607 - All stations on that SOI systems. 659 00:36:17,607 --> 00:36:19,410 Just an advisory, we're coming up on the time 660 00:36:19,410 --> 00:36:21,679 for the critical sequence will initiate the turn 661 00:36:21,679 --> 00:36:23,280 to the SOI burn attitude. 662 00:36:23,280 --> 00:36:28,019 The burn command will be sent at 7:35:35 PM local time. 663 00:36:29,986 --> 00:36:31,521 Flight director, SOI systems, 664 00:36:31,521 --> 00:36:34,325 all subsystems report the spacecraft data is nominal 665 00:36:34,325 --> 00:36:36,293 and ready to support SOI. 666 00:36:36,293 --> 00:36:37,528 - [Man] Okay, I copy that. 667 00:36:48,805 --> 00:36:50,408 SOI, comms flight director... 668 00:36:51,742 --> 00:36:52,777 - [Todd] We're waiting. 669 00:36:52,777 --> 00:36:53,611 - Copy telecomm 670 00:37:08,425 --> 00:37:10,160 A JPL tradition has begun, 671 00:37:10,160 --> 00:37:12,329 starting in the back of the Mission Support Area. 672 00:37:12,329 --> 00:37:16,000 This is the consuming of the lucky JPL peanuts. 673 00:37:24,241 --> 00:37:26,410 Doug Johnson just reported a signal, 674 00:37:26,410 --> 00:37:28,078 we've survived the ring plane crossing 675 00:37:28,078 --> 00:37:29,780 through the F and G rings. 676 00:37:29,780 --> 00:37:32,016 (applause) 677 00:37:35,453 --> 00:37:38,789 One hurdle down, one to go, with the start of the burn 678 00:37:38,789 --> 00:37:40,991 a meer nine minutes away. 679 00:37:40,991 --> 00:37:43,828 - [Julie] ACE flight director on FSL court. 680 00:37:43,828 --> 00:37:46,964 Are you still tracking Canberra on B2? 681 00:37:48,699 --> 00:37:50,901 - [Man] That's affirmative. 682 00:37:50,901 --> 00:37:53,304 - Let's go ahead and switch Canberra over to B-Zero. 683 00:37:59,577 --> 00:38:01,078 Go ahead, NAV-1. 684 00:38:01,078 --> 00:38:03,113 - [Man] We can confirm that we are receiving 685 00:38:03,113 --> 00:38:04,448 one way data from the DSN. 686 00:38:05,616 --> 00:38:08,551 - [Julie] One way Doppler from DSS14? 687 00:38:08,551 --> 00:38:10,421 - [Man] Yes, that's affirmative. 688 00:38:12,756 --> 00:38:15,292 - Navigation can also confirm we're receiving 689 00:38:15,292 --> 00:38:16,794 the Doppler data. 690 00:38:16,794 --> 00:38:18,795 We've been able to verify that the turn 691 00:38:18,795 --> 00:38:21,031 to the SY burn attitude is complete. 692 00:38:21,031 --> 00:38:25,202 We're approaching two minutes before the SOI burn. 693 00:38:25,202 --> 00:38:27,938 Hopes and dreams of thousands of scientists 694 00:38:27,938 --> 00:38:31,241 and engineers are resting on the next few moments. 695 00:38:31,241 --> 00:38:33,477 So Godspeed, Cassini Huygens. 696 00:38:33,477 --> 00:38:34,679 May we see you in orbit. 697 00:38:36,013 --> 00:38:37,114 - We're gonna drop in. 698 00:38:38,816 --> 00:38:40,885 - On the Doppler display, what we're looking for 699 00:38:40,885 --> 00:38:43,887 is a turning of the corner to start to follow that line 700 00:38:43,887 --> 00:38:45,789 down to the lower right. 701 00:38:45,789 --> 00:38:48,025 And that's our indication the burn has begun. 702 00:38:52,263 --> 00:38:53,497 Flight, SOI comms.. 703 00:38:53,497 --> 00:38:54,965 - [Julie] Go ahead. 704 00:38:54,965 --> 00:38:57,301 - [Man] We have a Doppler signature consistent 705 00:38:57,301 --> 00:38:59,236 with engine turn on. 706 00:38:59,236 --> 00:39:02,373 (cheers and applause) 707 00:39:10,648 --> 00:39:12,349 - [Todd] Lots of high fives and celebrations 708 00:39:12,349 --> 00:39:13,317 in mission control. 709 00:39:18,822 --> 00:39:21,125 Congratulations all of you that have worked so hard 710 00:39:21,125 --> 00:39:21,959 for this moment. 711 00:39:26,997 --> 00:39:30,201 One minute down, about 96 minutes to go. 712 00:39:35,039 --> 00:39:37,408 We're continuing to follow the nominal predicted curve 713 00:39:37,408 --> 00:39:38,375 on the Doppler. 714 00:39:38,375 --> 00:39:39,542 So the fact we turned the corner 715 00:39:39,542 --> 00:39:40,778 means the engine has started. 716 00:39:40,778 --> 00:39:42,246 The fact that we're following the line 717 00:39:42,246 --> 00:39:43,881 means we're getting the right thrust out of the engine. 718 00:39:43,881 --> 00:39:46,884 So more good news for the Cassini Huygens spacecraft. 719 00:39:56,460 --> 00:39:57,428 - Way to go. 720 00:39:57,428 --> 00:39:58,895 Way to go. 721 00:39:58,895 --> 00:40:01,565 - [Narrator] There's now 90 minutes of waiting 722 00:40:01,565 --> 00:40:04,502 until Cassini's engine is to stop firing. 723 00:40:04,502 --> 00:40:07,905 The lull in the action affords a rare opportunity 724 00:40:07,905 --> 00:40:10,407 to give members of Congress who are on hand 725 00:40:10,407 --> 00:40:13,277 a very up close and personal tour. 726 00:40:26,557 --> 00:40:29,526 It's a moment to witness history in the making, 727 00:40:29,526 --> 00:40:31,828 and, as politicians well-know, 728 00:40:31,828 --> 00:40:34,865 to take advantage of an excellent photo op. 729 00:40:39,136 --> 00:40:44,141 - It's 7:42 PM in NASA's Cassini mission control. 730 00:40:45,543 --> 00:40:49,180 The next thing we'll look for is an occultation 731 00:40:49,180 --> 00:40:53,149 by the A ring around 8:05 PM Pacific time local. 732 00:40:53,149 --> 00:40:55,752 At that time, we'll see an increased noise 733 00:40:55,752 --> 00:40:57,287 in the Doppler signal, 734 00:40:57,287 --> 00:41:00,624 similar to the increased noise there at the far left 735 00:41:00,624 --> 00:41:01,991 of the Doppler plot. 736 00:41:01,991 --> 00:41:04,862 And our final scary moment of the evening 737 00:41:04,862 --> 00:41:07,398 will be to make sure to get the burn shut down. 738 00:41:08,865 --> 00:41:12,036 The history making day for JPL, NASA, and the world. 739 00:41:15,372 --> 00:41:16,707 - [Man] Flight, SOI comm. 740 00:41:16,707 --> 00:41:18,275 - Go ahead, SOI comm. 741 00:41:18,275 --> 00:41:21,444 - [Man] We have hit the A ring pretty hard. 742 00:41:21,444 --> 00:41:23,280 - All right. 743 00:41:23,280 --> 00:41:25,716 - [Todd] More good news from SOI Comm there, 744 00:41:25,716 --> 00:41:28,719 the frightening looking change to our Doppler data 745 00:41:28,719 --> 00:41:30,420 is totally anticipated. 746 00:41:30,420 --> 00:41:32,623 This proves that Saturn's A ring is where we think it is. 747 00:41:32,623 --> 00:41:36,594 And the Cassini spacecraft is where we think it is as well. 748 00:41:38,328 --> 00:41:41,932 - [Man] We're continuing to track a two to three DB signal 749 00:41:41,932 --> 00:41:44,868 with occasional outages through the A ring. 750 00:41:44,868 --> 00:41:46,069 And we expect to see a nice strong signal, 751 00:41:46,069 --> 00:41:48,405 we have the main division coming up. 752 00:41:48,405 --> 00:41:49,874 - [Julie] Copy that, sounds good. 753 00:41:51,876 --> 00:41:55,345 (phone ringing) 754 00:41:55,345 --> 00:41:57,982 - [Todd] As we see, we're approaching the B ring, 755 00:41:59,450 --> 00:42:01,785 and we must remember tonight, everything happening at Saturn 756 00:42:01,785 --> 00:42:03,887 occurred an hour and 24 minutes earlier 757 00:42:03,887 --> 00:42:07,457 due to that pesky speed of light, 186,000 miles per second, 758 00:42:07,457 --> 00:42:09,993 our interplanetary speed limit, if you will. 759 00:42:09,993 --> 00:42:11,662 - [Julie] Go ahead SOI Comm. 760 00:42:11,662 --> 00:42:13,830 - [Man] After a brief peak up to 11DB, 761 00:42:13,830 --> 00:42:17,067 we have now exited the division. 762 00:42:17,067 --> 00:42:18,068 - Copy. 763 00:42:18,068 --> 00:42:20,437 - [Man] What just happened? 764 00:42:20,437 --> 00:42:23,439 - They just announced that we are now 765 00:42:23,439 --> 00:42:25,642 a captured object around Saturn. 766 00:42:25,642 --> 00:42:27,878 We are now an orbit... an orbiter. 767 00:42:29,146 --> 00:42:31,882 - First in history around Saturn. 768 00:42:31,882 --> 00:42:33,016 - There you go. 769 00:42:33,016 --> 00:42:34,852 First man-made orbiter around Saturn. 770 00:42:36,052 --> 00:42:38,055 Voyager, eat your heart out. 771 00:42:39,956 --> 00:42:41,992 - [Man] SOI systems, this is contingency. 772 00:42:43,626 --> 00:42:46,563 - Closest approach is just a little over two minutes away. 773 00:42:46,563 --> 00:42:49,332 And given that, it's probably about time 774 00:42:49,332 --> 00:42:52,001 for our Saturnian weather forecast. 775 00:42:52,001 --> 00:42:55,872 Predicted temps today, -226 degrees Fahrenheit 776 00:42:55,872 --> 00:42:58,775 or -143 degrees Celsius. 777 00:42:58,775 --> 00:43:02,146 Winds of 1100 miles per hour or so. 778 00:43:02,146 --> 00:43:06,550 Chance of helium rain inside the interior, 100%. 779 00:43:06,550 --> 00:43:09,086 Hurricanes the size of the Earth. 780 00:43:09,086 --> 00:43:11,722 Cassini would do well to batten down the hatches. 781 00:43:13,723 --> 00:43:16,859 Closest approach is upon us with a speed 782 00:43:16,859 --> 00:43:19,296 of almost 69,000 miles per hour. 783 00:43:19,296 --> 00:43:21,765 And the speed HAS started slowing. 784 00:43:52,196 --> 00:43:53,463 - [Man] Flight, SOI Comm. 785 00:43:53,463 --> 00:43:54,731 - [Julie] Go ahead, SOI Comm. 786 00:43:54,731 --> 00:43:57,868 - [Man] The Doppler has flattened out. 787 00:43:57,868 --> 00:44:01,038 (cheers and applause) 788 00:44:01,038 --> 00:44:04,108 (indistinct chatter) 789 00:44:08,912 --> 00:44:11,448 - [Todd] Okay, we have burn complete here, 790 00:44:11,448 --> 00:44:13,083 for the SOI orbit insertion burn. 791 00:44:18,822 --> 00:44:20,790 Congratulations continue in mission control. 792 00:44:20,790 --> 00:44:22,726 The high-fives begin in the back 793 00:44:22,726 --> 00:44:24,128 of our mission support area. 794 00:44:33,737 --> 00:44:35,706 I'm just hearing a report from radio... 795 00:44:38,642 --> 00:44:39,809 - You did great. 796 00:44:39,809 --> 00:44:41,078 You did great. - Thank you. 797 00:44:41,078 --> 00:44:42,345 - My pleasure. 798 00:44:42,345 --> 00:44:45,549 Here's to our lucky propulsion engineers. 799 00:44:46,449 --> 00:44:47,651 Did a wonderful job tonight. 800 00:44:47,651 --> 00:44:49,886 - Knowing that it survived and was there 801 00:44:49,886 --> 00:44:51,387 and we were ready to, you know, 802 00:44:51,387 --> 00:44:54,424 get to the meat of the science and get these great images. 803 00:44:54,424 --> 00:44:55,492 It was a wonderful moment. 804 00:44:55,492 --> 00:44:56,826 The voyage begins. 805 00:44:56,826 --> 00:44:58,328 We made it, like, we did it. 806 00:45:02,466 --> 00:45:04,133 - Fantastic job. 807 00:45:04,133 --> 00:45:06,169 - Now we're gonna put your ECAP in. 808 00:45:06,169 --> 00:45:08,439 (laughing) 809 00:45:09,939 --> 00:45:12,409 - [Todd] I was just informed by my management, 810 00:45:12,409 --> 00:45:14,878 she'll put my performance evaluation in. 811 00:45:14,878 --> 00:45:17,181 I'm glad she waited until our success tonight. 812 00:45:21,285 --> 00:45:20,150 It's alive. 813 00:45:36,133 --> 00:45:38,736 (gentle music) 814 00:45:42,038 --> 00:45:44,274 - So there's this amazing elation 815 00:45:44,274 --> 00:45:47,311 and then almost immediately a crash, 816 00:45:47,311 --> 00:45:50,547 just because we're exhausted and tired, 817 00:45:50,547 --> 00:45:52,015 but I couldn't sleep. 818 00:45:52,015 --> 00:45:54,217 And so I stayed in the MSA, 819 00:45:54,217 --> 00:45:59,089 and the images of the rings were playing back, 820 00:45:59,089 --> 00:46:03,626 and slowly people started to gather around these images, 821 00:46:03,626 --> 00:46:06,296 which no one had seen close up images 822 00:46:06,296 --> 00:46:08,298 flying right over the tops of the rings. 823 00:46:09,932 --> 00:46:13,870 And there were just goosebumps. 824 00:46:13,870 --> 00:46:15,739 That's a memory I will never forget. 825 00:46:16,840 --> 00:46:21,611 - This is way more ringlets, little pieces. 826 00:46:21,611 --> 00:46:23,713 - [Narrator] Until now, the mission has been 827 00:46:23,713 --> 00:46:26,049 mostly the province of engineers. 828 00:46:26,049 --> 00:46:29,786 With these first ever closeup images of Saturn's rings, 829 00:46:29,786 --> 00:46:33,056 the shift to science begins in earnest, 830 00:46:33,056 --> 00:46:36,626 and there are hints of major discoveries ahead 831 00:46:36,626 --> 00:46:38,362 from what already can be seen. 832 00:46:39,529 --> 00:46:42,332 - I don't think you have to be a ring scientist 833 00:46:42,332 --> 00:46:44,901 to imagine what last night was for us. 834 00:46:44,901 --> 00:46:47,638 It was beyond description really. 835 00:46:47,638 --> 00:46:49,205 It was mind blowing. 836 00:46:49,205 --> 00:46:51,708 It was every adjective you could think of. 837 00:46:51,708 --> 00:46:55,311 I'm surprised at how surprised I am at the beauty 838 00:46:55,311 --> 00:46:56,813 and the clarity of these images. 839 00:46:56,813 --> 00:46:59,015 They are shocking to me. 840 00:46:59,015 --> 00:47:02,519 The spacecraft allows us a very steady platform. 841 00:47:02,519 --> 00:47:06,423 This machine, you turn it, you point it, and it stays there. 842 00:47:06,423 --> 00:47:08,692 It's like a tripod in space. 843 00:47:08,692 --> 00:47:11,628 Anyway, I think ring scientists are gonna have a field day. 844 00:47:11,628 --> 00:47:13,030 So thank you. 845 00:47:16,033 --> 00:47:17,134 Wow. 846 00:47:17,134 --> 00:47:19,369 (applause) 847 00:47:28,611 --> 00:47:30,781 - [Narrator] Cassini's arrival coincided 848 00:47:30,781 --> 00:47:34,417 with a time when the planet was well lit by sunlight, 849 00:47:34,417 --> 00:47:37,821 providing extraordinary views of the rings. 850 00:47:39,255 --> 00:47:43,360 Saturn, plus the rings, span about a quarter million miles, 851 00:47:43,360 --> 00:47:46,730 and they would fit in between the Earth and its moon. 852 00:47:47,930 --> 00:47:50,433 And yet for all of its wide expanse, 853 00:47:50,433 --> 00:47:53,470 the rings themselves are paper thin, 854 00:47:53,470 --> 00:47:56,707 only about 10 feet thick. 855 00:47:57,874 --> 00:48:00,310 If you could scoop up all the ring particles, 856 00:48:00,310 --> 00:48:03,213 there would be less mass than one of Saturn's 857 00:48:03,213 --> 00:48:04,781 small moons named Mimas. 858 00:48:08,484 --> 00:48:09,820 - [Narrator] From a distance, 859 00:48:09,820 --> 00:48:12,688 the rings cast off a sense of serenity, 860 00:48:12,688 --> 00:48:16,493 but they are as complex and chaotic as they are beautiful. 861 00:48:17,694 --> 00:48:19,462 For they are made up of countless numbers 862 00:48:19,462 --> 00:48:22,933 of disorderly objects of different sizes and shapes. 863 00:48:26,136 --> 00:48:29,940 This is a simulated image based on radar observations, 864 00:48:29,940 --> 00:48:33,143 showing particles sizes found in different regions 865 00:48:33,143 --> 00:48:34,510 of the rings. 866 00:48:34,510 --> 00:48:36,813 The color purple represents where there is 867 00:48:36,813 --> 00:48:40,050 a preponderance of objects smaller than two inches. 868 00:48:40,050 --> 00:48:43,886 Particles in green are about an inch in size. 869 00:48:43,886 --> 00:48:46,390 The blueish bands are still smaller. 870 00:48:47,857 --> 00:48:51,261 The white bands are dense regions that radio signals 871 00:48:51,261 --> 00:48:52,763 were unable to penetrate. 872 00:48:55,098 --> 00:48:58,335 This false color image highlights what can be seen 873 00:48:58,335 --> 00:48:59,503 in the ultraviolet. 874 00:49:00,737 --> 00:49:03,473 The turquoise colors represent water ice. 875 00:49:03,473 --> 00:49:07,010 The red colors are a different kind of particle. 876 00:49:07,010 --> 00:49:09,146 Uncertain as to what it might be, 877 00:49:09,146 --> 00:49:12,082 the scientists decided to name it dirt. 878 00:49:13,283 --> 00:49:15,318 - Cassini was also able to measure 879 00:49:15,318 --> 00:49:17,788 the temperature of the ring particles, 880 00:49:17,788 --> 00:49:21,291 and the rings that had the most dirt or pollution 881 00:49:21,291 --> 00:49:26,162 were slightly warmer than the bright icy rings. 882 00:49:26,162 --> 00:49:28,097 - [Narrator] And, despite being made of 883 00:49:28,097 --> 00:49:30,299 mostly cosmic dust and ice, 884 00:49:30,299 --> 00:49:34,637 the rings contained some structures as large as a house. 885 00:49:34,637 --> 00:49:38,174 And as scientists discovered to their astonishment, 886 00:49:38,174 --> 00:49:40,944 even transitory mountains. 887 00:49:40,944 --> 00:49:44,080 - There is a unique moment in the Cassini mission 888 00:49:44,080 --> 00:49:46,550 where the sun was edge onto the rings, 889 00:49:46,550 --> 00:49:49,352 and that allowed us to see anything that would stick up 890 00:49:49,352 --> 00:49:53,523 above or below those 10 feet thick rings. 891 00:49:53,523 --> 00:49:57,560 Then lo and behold, we found what looked like mountains 892 00:49:57,560 --> 00:50:00,897 casting huge shadows on the rings. 893 00:50:00,897 --> 00:50:03,233 And it turns out that the rings of Saturn 894 00:50:03,233 --> 00:50:05,268 are not like just individual particles, 895 00:50:05,268 --> 00:50:08,537 but a lot of these particles stick together 896 00:50:08,537 --> 00:50:12,175 and grow into larger and larger particles. 897 00:50:12,175 --> 00:50:15,011 But these clumps of particles are ephemeral. 898 00:50:15,011 --> 00:50:17,180 They don't last for a long time. 899 00:50:17,180 --> 00:50:21,952 They can be broken up and then reformed in to new particles. 900 00:50:27,190 --> 00:50:29,593 - [Narrator] Saturn's moons and smaller moonlets 901 00:50:29,593 --> 00:50:31,094 also influenced the rings. 902 00:50:32,628 --> 00:50:37,133 Even orbiting rubble piles hold a kind of sway. 903 00:50:37,133 --> 00:50:40,002 Altogether, they help shape the boundaries 904 00:50:40,002 --> 00:50:41,571 of Saturn's rings, 905 00:50:41,571 --> 00:50:44,207 herding in particles that might otherwise 906 00:50:44,207 --> 00:50:46,409 rain down in a torrent on the planet 907 00:50:46,409 --> 00:50:49,012 or escape into deep space. 908 00:50:50,847 --> 00:50:54,050 Meanwhile, particles from some of Saturn's moons 909 00:50:54,050 --> 00:50:56,119 are constantly shedding off, 910 00:50:56,119 --> 00:51:01,091 helping to preserve existing rings or creating new ones. 911 00:51:06,563 --> 00:51:09,866 Among the unexpected discoveries within the rings 912 00:51:09,866 --> 00:51:12,436 were these propeller like objects. 913 00:51:13,870 --> 00:51:17,773 - Propellers are these largest clumps of ring particles, 914 00:51:17,773 --> 00:51:19,876 and they get big enough so their gravity 915 00:51:19,876 --> 00:51:23,546 wants to push apart the rings and open up a gap. 916 00:51:23,546 --> 00:51:25,015 And then there's not quite enough gravity 917 00:51:25,015 --> 00:51:26,249 to open it up all the way. 918 00:51:26,249 --> 00:51:28,350 And so you see these little propellers 919 00:51:28,350 --> 00:51:29,752 sprinkled throughout the rings, 920 00:51:29,752 --> 00:51:31,855 especially in Saturn's A ring. 921 00:51:34,090 --> 00:51:36,826 - [Narrator] A mystery dating back to Voyager 922 00:51:36,826 --> 00:51:40,896 was the appearing and disappearing of ghostly spokes. 923 00:51:40,896 --> 00:51:43,800 Cassini determined their cause. 924 00:51:43,800 --> 00:51:47,003 Electrostatic charges that lift up dust particles, 925 00:51:47,003 --> 00:51:50,006 where they levitate for a time above the rings. 926 00:51:53,610 --> 00:51:56,479 There remain two fundamental questions 927 00:51:56,479 --> 00:51:58,814 lacking definitive answers. 928 00:51:58,814 --> 00:52:01,685 The first is knowing how the rings came to be. 929 00:52:03,053 --> 00:52:06,556 - So many things about the rings are unexplained even now. 930 00:52:07,724 --> 00:52:10,760 There are a lot of ideas for how Saturn's rings 931 00:52:10,760 --> 00:52:12,428 initially formed. 932 00:52:12,428 --> 00:52:15,564 One of those is that perhaps the rings formed 933 00:52:15,564 --> 00:52:18,234 from the material that was left over 934 00:52:18,234 --> 00:52:19,803 from when Saturn formed. 935 00:52:19,803 --> 00:52:23,106 So if that's true, then the rings are old, 936 00:52:23,106 --> 00:52:24,875 as old as Saturn itself. 937 00:52:26,309 --> 00:52:29,912 Other ideas: say perhaps an object may be a comet, 938 00:52:29,912 --> 00:52:32,715 or a meteor, came in too close to Saturn, 939 00:52:32,715 --> 00:52:35,685 was torn apart by Saturn's gravity, 940 00:52:35,685 --> 00:52:38,187 and then created the rings. 941 00:52:38,187 --> 00:52:41,458 Or perhaps a moon wandered too close to Saturn 942 00:52:41,458 --> 00:52:43,192 and was torn apart. 943 00:52:43,192 --> 00:52:46,662 And so then the rains could be as young as maybe only 10 944 00:52:46,662 --> 00:52:48,899 or a hundred million years old. 945 00:52:51,100 --> 00:52:54,537 - [Narrator] Along with determining the origin of the rings, 946 00:52:54,537 --> 00:52:58,341 understanding their fate is also an unanswered question. 947 00:52:59,475 --> 00:53:02,078 But the adage that nothing lasts forever 948 00:53:02,078 --> 00:53:04,447 likely applies even to them. 949 00:53:05,815 --> 00:53:09,719 - As micro meteoroids continue to bombard the rings, 950 00:53:09,719 --> 00:53:12,988 and some of the innermost particles fall into Saturn 951 00:53:12,988 --> 00:53:15,157 and actually water the planet, 952 00:53:15,157 --> 00:53:18,261 the rings are getting lighter and lighter with time. 953 00:53:18,261 --> 00:53:21,363 And so perhaps in another few hundred million years, 954 00:53:21,363 --> 00:53:23,800 Saturn's rings as we know it might be gone. 955 00:53:23,800 --> 00:53:26,303 Maybe we'll be left with narrow rings 956 00:53:26,303 --> 00:53:28,572 like we see in the Uranus system. 957 00:53:30,707 --> 00:53:33,009 - [Narrator] And one day long from now, 958 00:53:33,009 --> 00:53:37,247 Saturn's glorious rings might disappear altogether. 959 00:53:37,247 --> 00:53:40,350 One more reason to enjoy them while we can. 960 00:53:48,024 --> 00:53:50,994 Next time on "JPL and the Space Age", 961 00:53:50,994 --> 00:53:54,730 Part Two of "Triumph at Saturn"... 962 00:53:54,730 --> 00:53:59,469 With Cassini safely in orbit, science takes center stage, 963 00:54:00,937 --> 00:54:04,240 beginning with the dramatic descent of the Huygens Probe 964 00:54:04,240 --> 00:54:07,444 to the surface of Saturn's moon Titan. 965 00:54:08,611 --> 00:54:10,046 - [Man] We knew Titan was a tough target, 966 00:54:10,046 --> 00:54:12,615 was going to hold its secrets tightly. 967 00:54:12,615 --> 00:54:15,418 And so we designed this mission to hit it 968 00:54:15,418 --> 00:54:17,387 with everything we've got. 969 00:54:17,387 --> 00:54:19,155 - [Narrator] In the years that follow, 970 00:54:19,155 --> 00:54:22,925 one unexpected discovery after another will be made, 971 00:54:22,925 --> 00:54:25,160 earning this international mission 972 00:54:25,160 --> 00:54:27,497 accolades from around the world. 973 00:54:28,631 --> 00:54:30,966 - Science is about what is, 974 00:54:30,966 --> 00:54:34,504 and engineering is about what can BE. 975 00:54:34,504 --> 00:54:37,707 The Cassini-Huygens program has demonstrated 976 00:54:37,707 --> 00:54:39,242 the best of both. 977 00:54:39,242 --> 00:54:41,544 The number of your new discoveries 978 00:54:41,544 --> 00:54:43,846 is nothing short of amazing. 979 00:54:43,846 --> 00:54:46,182 - [Woman] I would say Cassini's discoveries 980 00:54:46,182 --> 00:54:50,853 fundamentally altered the way we look at our solar system. 981 00:54:50,853 --> 00:54:53,789 Around one planet, we find two moons 982 00:54:53,789 --> 00:54:57,026 that could potentially be habitable, 983 00:54:57,026 --> 00:55:00,963 have the key ingredients to support life. 984 00:55:00,963 --> 00:55:04,167 - I have more than a passing interest in Saturn 985 00:55:04,167 --> 00:55:05,635 and its family of moons. 986 00:55:05,635 --> 00:55:10,473 When Cassini was launched, we knew only 18 moons. 987 00:55:10,473 --> 00:55:14,210 I understand there's now 60 and counting. 988 00:55:14,210 --> 00:55:17,113 I can't resist the temptation to say, 989 00:55:17,113 --> 00:55:18,982 my God, it's full of moons.