{"id":411,"date":"2017-09-15T08:07:00","date_gmt":"2017-09-15T06:07:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/cassini_plunges_into_saturn_s_atmosphere\/"},"modified":"2026-10-08T00:27:52","modified_gmt":"2026-10-07T22:27:52","slug":"cassini_plunges_into_saturn_s_atmosphere","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/cassini_plunges_into_saturn_s_atmosphere\/","title":{"rendered":"Cassini plonge dans l\u2019atmosph\u00e8re de Saturne !"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Cassini vient de mettre un terme \u00e0 sa mission d\u00e9di\u00e9e \u00e0 l\u2019\u00e9tude de Saturne et de ses lunes. La sonde spatiale s\u2019est d\u00e9sint\u00e9gr\u00e9e dans l\u2019atmosph\u00e8re de Saturne, en cl\u00f4turant de mani\u00e8re spectaculaire sa mission historique !<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Cassini toured Saturn and its moons for 13 years. But its fuel supply was running out, meaning that mission scientists would not be able to control it for much longer. If Cassini were left to hurtle thorough space, it could have crashed into one of Saturn\u2019s moons, such as icy Enceladus. This would be bad news, as tough microbes from Earth may have hitched a ride on Cassini, and could then be left on the moon. When future scientists explore these moons for signs of life, it would be very confusing if microbes from Earth were there!<\/p>\n

\"The
The Cassini probe would have looked like this as it got closer to Saturn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Apr\u00e8s avoir d\u00e9cid\u00e9 que la mission de Cassini se terminerait par sa destruction, les scientifiques ont r\u00e9alis\u00e9 qu\u2019ils pouvaient se permettre de prendre quelques risques additionnels, c\u2019est pourquoi la sonde spatiale a \u00e9volu\u00e9 ces cinq derniers mois entre la plan\u00e8te Saturne et ses anneaux et a entrepris des man\u0153uvres risqu\u00e9es pour capturer des photos et enregistrer des donn\u00e9es. Les orbites finales de Cassini ont \u00e9t\u00e9 suivies attentivement par les stations de l\u2019ESA sur Terre.<\/p>\n

Cassini a p\u00e9n\u00e9tr\u00e9 l\u2019atmosph\u00e8re de Saturne environ une minute avant que son signal ne soit perdu. L\u2019engin spatial a continu\u00e9 d\u2019\u00e9mettre des donn\u00e9es le plus longtemps possible, en nous transmettant des photos et des donn\u00e9es sur les champs magn\u00e9tiques, la temp\u00e9rature et la composition de l\u2019atmosph\u00e8re. La communaut\u00e9 scientifique va d\u00e9sormais analyser l\u2019ensemble de ces r\u00e9sultats !<\/p>\n

\"Artist's
Artist’s impression of Cassini hurtling toward Saturn<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Au cours de sa mission, Cassini a fait de nombreuses d\u00e9couvertes. Peu apr\u00e8s son arriv\u00e9e \u00e0 proximit\u00e9 de Saturne, elle a envoy\u00e9 sur Titan une petite sonde de l\u2019ESA baptis\u00e9e Huygens. Huygens a atterri sur Titan et a constat\u00e9 que cette lune de Saturne ressemblait beaucoup \u00e0 la Terre avant que la vie ne s\u2019y d\u00e9veloppe.<\/p>\n

Cassini a ensuite explor\u00e9 d\u2019autres lunes de Saturne comme Japet, qui poss\u00e8de une immense cr\u00eate en son centre, Hyp\u00e9rion, qui ressemble \u00e0 une \u00e9ponge g\u00e9ante, ou bien encore Mimas, dont l\u2019\u00e9norme crat\u00e8re lui donne des allures d'\u00c9toile de la mort de La Guerre des \u00e9toiles !<\/p>\n

\"Eight
Eight of Cassini\u2019s scientific instruments were used during its grand finale<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Perhaps the most exciting discoveries were made about the moon Enceladus. Cassini found icy water being blasted out from cracks on the surface, hinting that there is a hidden underground ocean. Scientists have studied this water, and think that the ocean could have chemicals and energy needed for simple forms of life! A future mission could find out for sure. Mission planners are already preparing the next generation of robotic explorers. ESA is getting ready to launch the Jupiter Icy Moons Orbiter (or JUICE for short!) in the year 2022. It will explore three of Jupiter\u2019s moons, called Europa, Ganymede, and Callisto.<\/p>\n

Sur quelle plan\u00e8te ou lune de notre syst\u00e8me solaire aimeriez-vous envoyer une sonde spatiale ? Selon vous, que pourrions nous y trouver ? Nos prochaines missions d'exploration conna\u00eetront-elles le m\u00eame succ\u00e8s que Cassini ?<\/p>\n

Une anecdote sympa<\/b>: When Cassini was finally destroyed, it was 1.4 billion km from Earth!<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The space probe Cassini has finished its mission investigating Saturn and its moons! The robot explorer dived into Saturn\u2019s atmosphere, destroying the probe and giving it an amazing finish. Cassini […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"esa_banner_image":"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/var\/esa\/storage\/images\/esa_multimedia\/images\/2017\/09\/the_ringed_planet_saturn_is_sometimes_called_the_jewel_of_the_solar_system_because_it_is_so_beautiful\/17907754-2-eng-GB\/The_ringed_planet_Saturn_is_sometimes_called_the_jewel_of_the_Solar_System_because_it_is_so_beautiful.jpg","esa_banner_description":"The ringed planet Saturn is sometimes called \u201cthe jewel of the Solar System\u201d because it is so beautiful","esa_banner_credit":"NASA\/JPL-Caltech\/Space Science Institute","esa_banner_licence":"ESA Standard Licence","esa_banner_detail_url":"https:\/\/www.esa.int\/ESA_Multimedia\/Images\/2017\/09\/The_ringed_planet_Saturn_is_sometimes_called_the_jewel_of_the_Solar_System_because_it_is_so_beautiful","esa_external_url":"","esa_external_new_window":false,"_jetpack_feature_clip_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":true},"categories":[10,11,12],"tags":[],"panel":[],"language":[],"age":[],"duration":[],"resource_type":[],"audience":[],"wf_post_folders":[],"class_list":["post-411","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-learn","category-our-universe","category-planets-and-moons"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=411"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4453,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/411\/revisions\/4453"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=411"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"panel","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/panel?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"language","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/language?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"age","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/age?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"duration","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/duration?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"resource_type","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/resource_type?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"audience","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/audience?post=411"},{"taxonomy":"wf_post_folders","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/kids.esa.int\/fr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/wf_post_folders?post=411"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}