NASA's Cassini spacecraft has become the first to successfully enter the gap between Saturn's rings.
The Cassini spacecraft embarked on the exploration on Wednesday, and the controllers received the information from the spacecraft on Thursday. There was a time that there was no contact between the Cassini spacecraft and the base controllers.
Jim Green, director of the NASA's Planetary Science Division, confirmed in a statement that NASA's Cassini spacecraft has ventured again on a trail.
When the Cassini spacecraft took off, the scientists took the necessary precautions and used the dish-shaped antenna as a shield for any unexpected collisions in space. This is what caused the signal to be lost since the controllers needed to position the antenna away from the Earth.
The engineers already have signal and can already communicate with the Cassini spacecraft. They will evaluate data from this first dive. Additionally, the engineers will make sure that tweaks are made to the orbit and trajectory.
This dive into Saturn's rings will help scientists study how this giant planet moves in space. The Cassini spacecraft will provide us data for further studies.
Meanwhile, the Cassini spacecraft is scheduled to make 21 more dives during the final phase of its mission. The next dive for the spacecraft is scheduled for May 2. The spacecraft has already made several discoveries.
The Cassini spacecraft will make an intentional death dive into Saturn on Sept. 15. This is a way for the scientists to make sure that the spacecraft will not contaminate Titan or Enceladus someday.