Cute Google Doodle today honors the Cassini Spacecraft.

[femmocrat]

Today's Google Doodle shows the Cassini spacecraft passing by Saturn, in a cheery picture. But it is perhaps one of the most beautifully tragic images ever featured on its homepage.

The Cassini spacecraft, pictured happily snapping photos of Saturn and its rings in the Doodle, is only doing so because it is approaching its grand finale. When that finally arrives, it will see the craft plummet into the atmosphere of Saturn and get entirely burnt up, destroying the craft and bringing an end to its 20 year mission.

But Nasa must destroy Cassini. That is in part because doing so furthers the work of planetary preservation, ensuring that the craft doesn't go on to drop its life on Saturn or elsewhere, helping plant life that could upset anything that already exists there and stop us seeing whether or not there is alien life in our universe.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/science/cassini-spacecraft-nasa-saturn-rings-orbit-google-doodle-what-means-dive-a7702691.html

[FSogol]

1. I an envious of Cassini, out there in space, free from Trumpy & his influence, free from RW asshats

Godspeed, little Cassini.

[sakabatou]

3. What about Voyager 1 (about 120 AU from Earth)?

[irisblue]

2. A Cassini Selfie☺