John Spencer, Cassini Scientist on the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (bio)
As I write this we are just minutes before closest approach. The spacecraft is now completing the big turn to get its mass spectrometer and dust instruments facing forward, to best sample the plume as we fly through. I have the simulator that we use for planning the observations open on my desktop, so I can ride along in my imagination as the flyby happens. You can ride along too, using the cool CASSIE tool on the Cassini Web site http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/CASSIE/ . After closest approach, we’ll begin the temperature scans of the south pole. Weeeeeee!
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What an extraordinary feat: I, and many other Americans ,still believe when tax dollars are spent in the name of science and human education all humanity can profit :
“In every country, we should be teaching our children the scientific method and the reasons for a Bill of Rights. With it comes a certain decency, humility and community spirit. In the demon-haunted world that we inhabit by virtue of being human, this may be all that stands between us and the enveloping darkness”
Carl Sagan