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Old October 22nd 17, 03:06 AM posted to sci.space.policy
Scott M. Kozel[_2_]
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Posts: 160
Default STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe

On Saturday, October 21, 2017 at 5:01:02 PM UTC-4, Fred J. McCall wrote:
Mr. B1ack wrote:

Hmm ... Pence is now nominally the top dog of the
US space effort so it might not hurt to complain to
him about this sort of thing. Policy CAN change.
Gigabuck probes should not be considered part
of a first-person-shooter game by JPL nerds. If
it still mostly works, KEEP it around.


Policy CAN change but this one wouldn't have. A number of studies
were done to figure out a 'safe' way to dispose of or park the thing.


The thruster fuel tank was almost empty. Once the fuel runs out
there is no way to align the spacecraft so that its antenna can
point to Earth, meaning that no data can be sent to and from Earth.

So the spacecraft would effectively be dead.