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STUPID To Crash Cassini Probe
As was well publicized, the Cassini Saturn Orbiter was
deliberately crashed into the planet a couple of weeks ago. It's supply of maneuvering fuel was about exhausted and scientists didn't want to risk it "contaminating" one of Saturns interesting moons in a crash. But ... ya know ... the rest of the spacecraft was apparently in very good condition - the full array of scientific instruments still operational, and would have remained so for quite a long time to come. So ... don't tell me the clever people and AIs at the JPL couldn't have come up with a nice safe, essentially perpetual, orbit for the thing - maybe a wide orbit around Titan or just out between moons. The whole "contamination" thing was a pretty big reach as well ... Cassini was a relative fly-speck and space is chock-full of radiation FAR more intense than anything in its power pak. What we did was throw away a perfectly good long-term science/observation resource in the expensive-to-reach corner of our solar system. That was just STUPID. It was a huge waste of taxpayer money and a waste of an unknown quantity of useful information the thing could have been returning for decades if the power was properly managed. Let's NOT repeat such idiocy. NEVER throw away an asset. |
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