JPL
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
JPL Logo
JPL Logo
Solar System
.

Cassini Completes Final Close Enceladus Flyby

Dec 21, 2015
NASA's Cassini spacecraft paused during its final close flyby of Enceladus to focus on the icy moon's craggy, dimly lit limb, with the planet Saturn beyond. › Full image and caption
During its final close flyby of Saturn's moon Enceladus, NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this view featuring the nearly parallel furrows and ridges of the feature named Samarkand Sulci. › Full image and caption
NASA's Cassini spacecraft peered out over the northern territory on Saturn's moon Enceladus, during its final close flyby of Enceladus, on Dec. 19, 2015. › Full image and caption

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has begun transmitting data and images from the mission's final close flyby of Saturn's active moon Enceladus, which took place on Saturday, Dec. 19.

NASA's Cassini spacecraft has begun transmitting data and images from the mission's final close flyby of Saturn's active moon Enceladus. Cassini passed Enceladus at a distance of 3,106 miles (4,999 kilometers) on Saturday, Dec. 19, at 9:49 a.m. PST (12:49 p.m. EST).

"This final Enceladus flyby elicits feelings of both sadness and triumph," said Earl Maize, Cassini project manager at JPL. "While we're sad to have the close flybys behind us, we've placed the capstone on an incredible decade of investigating one of the most intriguing bodies in the solar system."

Cassini will continue to monitor activity on Enceladus from a distance, through the end of its mission in Sept. 2017. Future encounters will be much farther away -- at closest, more than four times farther than this latest encounter.

This was the 22nd Enceladus encounter of Cassini's mission. The spacecraft's discovery of geologic activity there, not long after arriving at Saturn, prompted changes to the mission's flight plan to maximize the number and quality of flybys of the icy moon.

"We bid a poignant goodbye to our close views of this amazing icy world," said Linda Spilker, the mission's project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California. "Cassini has made so many breathtaking discoveries about Enceladus, yet so much more remains to be done to answer that pivotal question, 'Does this tiny ocean world harbor life?'"

After revealing Enceladus' surprising geologic activity in 2005, Cassini made a series of discoveries about the material gushing from warm fractures near its south pole. Scientists announced strong evidence for a regional subsurface sea in 2014, revising their understanding in 2015 to confirm that the moon hosts a global ocean beneath its icy crust.

In addition to the processed images, unprocessed, or "raw," images appear on the Cassini mission website at:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/flybys/enceladus20151219/

Additional information and multimedia products for Cassini's final Enceladus flybys are available at:

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/finalflybys

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency. NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California, manages the mission for the agency's Science Mission Directorate in Washington. The Cassini imaging operations center is based at the Space Science Institute in Boulder, Colorado.

For more information about Cassini, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/cassini

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2015/10/23/flying-by-saturns-moon-enceladus/
Teachable Moment
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/edu/news/2015/10/23/flying-by-saturns-moon-enceladus/
Slideshow

News Media Contact

Preston Dyches

818-354-7013

preston.dyches@jpl.nasa.gov

2015-382

Related News

Mars .

NASA’s Ingenuity Mars Helicopter Succeeds in Historic First Flight

Mars .

NASA to Attempt First Controlled Flight on Mars As Soon As Monday

Mars .

NASA’s Mars Helicopter to Make First Flight Attempt

Mars .

NASA’s Odyssey Orbiter Marks 20 Historic Years of Mapping Mars

Solar System .

Probing for Life in the Icy Crusts of Ocean Worlds

Mars .

NASA’s First Weather Report From Jezero Crater on Mars

Mars .

NASA Invites Public to Take Flight With Ingenuity Mars Helicopter

Mars .

NASA’s Mars Helicopter Survives First Cold Martian Night on Its Own

Mars .

Sensors Collect Crucial Data on Mars Landings With Arrival of Perseverance

Mars .

NASA’s InSight Detects Two Sizable Quakes on Mars

Explore More

Image .

Goldstone Radar Observations of Asteroid 2001 FO32

Video .

What's Up - April 2021

Image .

Europa Clipper Spacecraft (Illustration)

Image .

Europa Imaging System Wide Angle Camera

Image .

Faraday Cups Up Close: NASA's Europa Clipper

Image .

Europa Clipper's Thermal Tubing

Image .

Europa Imaging System Narrow Angle Camera

Image .

Europa Clipper REASON Testing on the Mesa

Image .

Europa Clipper's Europa Imaging System in the Works

Image .

Preparing NASA's Europa Clipper's Plasma Instrument

About JPL
Who We Are
Executive Council
Directors of JPL
JPL History
Documentary Series
Virtual Tour
Annual Reports
Missions
All
Current
Past
Future
News
All
Earth
Mars
Solar System
Universe
Technology
Galleries
Images
Videos
Audio
Podcasts
Infographics
Visions of the Future
Slice of History
Engage
JPL and the Community
Lecture Series
Public Tours
Events
Team Competitions
JPL Speakers Bureau
Topics
Solar System
Mars
Earth
Climate Change
Stars and Galaxies
Exoplanets
Technology
JPL Life
For Media
Contacts and Information
Press Kits
More
Asteroid Watch
Robotics at JPL
Subscribe to Newsletter
Universe Newsletter
Social Media
RSS
Get the Latest from JPL
Follow Us

JPL is a federally funded research and development center managed for NASA by Caltech.

More from JPL
Careers Education Science & Technology Acquisitions JPL Store
Careers
Education
Science & Technology
Acquisitions
JPL Store
Related NASA Sites
Basics of Spaceflight
Climate Kids
Earth / Global Climate Change
Exoplanet Exploration
Mars Exploration
Solar System Exploration
Space Place
NASA's Eyes Visualization Project
Voyager Interstellar Mission
NASA
Caltech
Privacy
Image Policy
FAQ
Feedback
Site Manager: Veronica McGregor
Site Editors: Tony Greicius, Randal Jackson, Naomi Hartono