Cassini Retro Poster: The Classic

This is one in a series of whimsical retro posters designed to celebrate Cassini's Grand Finale after almost 20 years in space.

Here she is. Low on fuel, whipping around Saturn on a ballistic trajectory in a dramatic, grand finale. A bittersweet ending for an epic mission. But don’t shed a tear for Cassini.

Because after almost 20 years in space, one thing hasn’t changed. It’s all about the science.

Always has been. Always will. Right down to the last second.

She’s a scientist’s dream. An engineer’s perfect exploring machine.

Cassini is the kind of spacecraft that can live in the hard vacuum of space for decades and still deliver groundbreaking – earthshaking – science. She’s full of surprises.

She’s built to seize every opportunity. To chart new courses, go farther and deeper at each new opportunity, building on the science of her previous discoveries.

Cassini can dive between Saturn and its rings at a blazing-fast 75,000 mph, and yet her delicate thrusters can change her velocity by mere millimeters per second.

She can taste the atmosphere of Saturn. Peer through the smog-like atmosphere of Titan to reveal methane seas and lakes. And plunge through the icy plume of Enceladus.

No, her camera's not the latest model. But those 1-megapixel images will still drop your jaw.

No, she’s not a rover. She’s a Saturn-circling, ring-grazing, moon-buzzing discovery machine.

You won't find many sleek lines here. Cassini’s stocky, solid, built to perform in the cold and dark almost a billion miles from the sun – from her fully redundant dual R-4D bipropellant rocket engines to her trio of radioisotope thermoelectric generators.

This is Cassini. The classic, first-of-her-kind, robotic Saturn orbiter. She's one for the ages.

End of Mission: Sept., 15, 2017. Find out more at saturn.jpl.nasa.gov

After almost 20 years in space, NASA's Cassini spacecraft began the final chapter of its remarkable story of exploration: The Grand Finale. Twenty-two dives through the space between Saturn and its rings – a whole new science mission into unexplored space. The finale not only revealed new details about Saturn and its complicated system of rings and moons, it also ensured two of Cassini’s great discoveries – moons that might harbor conditions for life – will remain pristine for future exploration. On Sept. 15, 2017, Cassini plunged into Saturn becoming part of the planet itself.

Inspiration for this retro poster came from a classic Road & Track Corvette ad titled ‘70 Corvette. What else.