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.