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Video: Cassini’s final crazy engineering

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April 21, 2017

NASA is saying – and this surely seems true – that the final chapter for the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn is, in many ways, like a brand new mission. In the coming year, Cassini will dive through the unexplored space between Saturn and its rings 22 times. The video above tells how a team of NASA engineers called astrodynamicists used math and physics to plot a course for Cassini that would send it on its Grand Finale dives. Remarkable!

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April 21, 2017

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Deborah Byrd

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Deborah Byrd (asteroid 3505 Byrd) helps edit EarthSky.org and is a frequent host of EarthSky videos. Deborah created the EarthSky radio series in 1991 and founded EarthSky.org in 1994. Prior to that, she had worked for the University of Texas McDonald Observatory since 1976, and created and produced their Star Date radio series. She has won a galaxy of awards from the broadcasting and science communities, including having an asteroid named in her honor in 1990, a Public Service Award from the National Science Board in 2003, and the Education Prize from the American Astronomical Society in 2020. A science communicator and educator since 1976, Byrd believes in science as a force for good in the world and a vital tool for the 21st century. "Being an EarthSky editor is like hosting a big global party for cool nature-lovers," she says.