• Question: what was the most successful satellite that was in space?

    Asked by anon-225162 to Paul, Nawapat on 20 Nov 2019.
    • Photo: Nawapat Kaweeyanun

      Nawapat Kaweeyanun answered on 20 Nov 2019:

      I would say Cassini, which arrived at Saturn in 2004. The satellite was meant to last only until 2008, but it managed to survive until 2017 and make over 290 orbits around Saturn! It gave us more scientific data than we dared dream. Cassini tells us what Saturn rings are made of, that its moon Enceladus has a huge water fountain, and much more! In 2017, Cassini was intentionally crashed into Saturn in order to not contaminate Saturn’s moons with Earth-borne bacteria. The mission was in all an astonishing success, and scientists will pore over the satellite’s data for decades to come.

    • Photo: Paul Laurance-Young

      Paul Laurance-Young answered on 21 Nov 2019:

      I’m going to choose the satellites that have gone the furthest, the Voyager 1 spacecraft. That passed out of our solar system in 2012, giving us an ideas about how the suns magnetic field protects us. Right now, Voyager 1 is in interstellar space, (Just think about that! What lies between galaxies?!) travelling between our solar system and (if memory serves me correct) our nearest star – Alpha Centauri.
      Nawapat will have to let me know if I made a mistake here!

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