Saturn mission

The current NASA-Eupopean mission to Saturn will yeild a great deal of new
knowledge about planetary rings and moon systems. But; strange as it may
seem: The closest pass to the rings was made months ago, when the probe
braked into orbit of Saturn. In other words, the rings will not be resolved
into the chunks that make them up. I always hoped to see the rings so close
that they would turn into individual boulders and pebbles. I knew this would
endanger the mission ;but I thought a probe would be detached to image these
chunks even if it meant suicide.
The probe to go through Titans atmosphere is more important
scientifically---but I bet the result of no close-up of Saturns rings has
implications. Down the road, when clips don't show the rings resolving into
boulders, people will say to hell with funding for space probes. I know this
isn't the best science, but its practicle and unfortunatly true. What do you
think?

"entity" wrote in message
...
The current NASA-Eupopean mission to Saturn will yeild a great deal of new
knowledge about planetary rings and moon systems. But; strange as it may
seem: The closest pass to the rings was made months ago, when the probe
braked into orbit of Saturn. In other words, the rings will not be
resolved
into the chunks that make them up. I always hoped to see the rings so
close
that they would turn into individual boulders and pebbles. I knew this
would
endanger the mission ;but I thought a probe would be detached to image
these
chunks even if it meant suicide.
The probe to go through Titans atmosphere is more important
scientifically---but I bet the result of no close-up of Saturns rings has
implications. Down the road, when clips don't show the rings resolving
into
boulders, people will say to hell with funding for space probes. I know
this
isn't the best science, but its practicle and unfortunatly true. What do
you
think?

IIRC, Cassini shot the gap between Rings F & G....

Confirmed:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/feat...tory/rings.cfm

It would have made a cool picture, though.

-Donald in Austin
AA #2104

Yeah, that really sucks! If you're dying for that view, you can check
out old Star Trek episodes (in the show's intro.).

Saul Levy


On Mon, 13 Sep 2004 21:51:58 -0400, "entity"
wrote:

The current NASA-Eupopean mission to Saturn will yeild a great deal of new
knowledge about planetary rings and moon systems. But; strange as it may
seem: The closest pass to the rings was made months ago, when the probe
braked into orbit of Saturn. In other words, the rings will not be resolved
into the chunks that make them up. I always hoped to see the rings so close
that they would turn into individual boulders and pebbles. I knew this would
endanger the mission ;but I thought a probe would be detached to image these
chunks even if it meant suicide.
The probe to go through Titans atmosphere is more important
scientifically---but I bet the result of no close-up of Saturns rings has
implications. Down the road, when clips don't show the rings resolving into
boulders, people will say to hell with funding for space probes. I know this
isn't the best science, but its practicle and unfortunatly true. What do you
think?

"Saul Levy" wrote in message
...
Yeah, that really sucks! If you're dying for that view, you can check
out old Star Trek episodes (in the show's intro.).

Saul Levy

Engage Anorak:

That would be old 'Star Trek The Next Generation' Episodes, not Star Trek of
course.

Nit Picked.

Disengage Anorak:

Normality restored, probability factor 1:1.

Erase memory of embarrassing incident.

O'Ryan Wells.


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In message , O'Ryan Wells
writes

"Saul Levy" wrote in message
.. .
Yeah, that really sucks! If you're dying for that view, you can check
out old Star Trek episodes (in the show's intro.).

Saul Levy

Engage Anorak:

That would be old 'Star Trek The Next Generation' Episodes, not Star Trek of
course.

Nit Picked.

Disengage Anorak:

Normality restored, probability factor 1:1.

Erase memory of embarrassing incident.

There's also a ring sequence in Star Trek: Voyager, with the spaceship
appearing at least as large as the rings, judging by its shadow.
--
What have they got to hide? Release the ESA Beagle 2 report.
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

That's nice! Those shows all look the same to me. I don't watch
them.

Saul Levy


On Wed, 15 Sep 2004 18:45:48 +0000 (UTC), "O'Ryan Wells"
wrote:


"Saul Levy" wrote in message
.. .
Yeah, that really sucks! If you're dying for that view, you can check
out old Star Trek episodes (in the show's intro.).

Saul Levy

Engage Anorak:

That would be old 'Star Trek The Next Generation' Episodes, not Star Trek of
course.

Nit Picked.

Disengage Anorak:

Normality restored, probability factor 1:1.

Erase memory of embarrassing incident.

O'Ryan Wells.