Cassini’s Final Orbits
![Illustration showing orbit tracks that go both inside and outside Saturn's rings.](https://science.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/09/FRPO_Periapses_v01.jpg?w=4096&format=jpeg)
March 24, 2017
Credit | NASA / Jet Propulsion Laboratory - Caltech / Erick Sturm |
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This illustration created by Cassini's mission planning team shows the closest approaches - periapses - of the spacecraft during the final two phases of the mission - the Ring-Grazing orbits (November 2016 to April 2017) and the Grand Finale Orbits (April to September 2017).
The mission ends on Sept. 15, 2017 with Cassini's final plunge into Saturn's atmosphere.