Made in Sheffield - and smashing into Saturn at 76,000mph

It's a tiny piece of outdated technology.
In this Oct. 31, 1996 photo made available by NASA, the newly assembled Cassini Saturn probe undergoes vibration and thermal testing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory facilities in Pasadena, Calif. It was subjected to weeks of "shake and bake" tests that imitate the forces and extreme temperatures the spacecraft would experience during launch and spaceflight. (NASA via AP)In this Oct. 31, 1996 photo made available by NASA, the newly assembled Cassini Saturn probe undergoes vibration and thermal testing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory facilities in Pasadena, Calif. It was subjected to weeks of "shake and bake" tests that imitate the forces and extreme temperatures the spacecraft would experience during launch and spaceflight. (NASA via AP)
In this Oct. 31, 1996 photo made available by NASA, the newly assembled Cassini Saturn probe undergoes vibration and thermal testing at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory facilities in Pasadena, Calif. It was subjected to weeks of "shake and bake" tests that imitate the forces and extreme temperatures the spacecraft would experience during launch and spaceflight. (NASA via AP)

But after a noble 20-year, billion miles trip through space, the historic ‘Made in Sheffield’ programme will burst into a fireball as it zips through Saturn’s atmosphere, some time round about now.

The Cassini probe will destroy itself in next hour or two as it ends its historic mission to study the planet and its moons.

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Much of the ground breaking data sent back to Earth came courtesy of the geniss of two Sheffield University boffins.

Dr Hugo Alleyne and Dr Les Woolliscroft provided data compression software for the Radio and Plasma Wave Science experiment.

This studied plasma waves and radio emissions in the Saturn system and helped create a new understanding of how it all works.

But today the whole programme comes crashing to an end, literally.

Cassini is on course to plunge through Saturn's atmosphere and vaporize like a meteor Friday morning. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute via AP)Cassini is on course to plunge through Saturn's atmosphere and vaporize like a meteor Friday morning. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute via AP)
Cassini is on course to plunge through Saturn's atmosphere and vaporize like a meteor Friday morning. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute via AP)
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With a predicted entry speed of 76,000mph, the Cassini spacecraft will be torn to pieces in a plan carefully devised by scientists.

Below is the sequence of events leading to Cassini’s suicidal dive on to Saturn. All times (BST) are approximate.

September 11, 20:00: A fly-by round Saturn’s largest moon Titan - nicknamed “the goodbye kiss” by scientists - nudges Cassini on to a one-way trip back to the planet.

September 14, 20:58: Last images taken as Cassini heads towards Saturn.

Cassini is on course to plunge through Saturn's atmosphere and vaporize like a meteor Friday morning. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute via AP)Cassini is on course to plunge through Saturn's atmosphere and vaporize like a meteor Friday morning. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute via AP)
Cassini is on course to plunge through Saturn's atmosphere and vaporize like a meteor Friday morning. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute via AP)
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September 14, 21:58: Cassini turns its antenna to Earth. Final images and other recorded data are transmitted.

September 15, 08:14: Cassini begins a five-minute roll to align its atmosphere sampling instrument and begins near real-time transmission of data.

September 15, 11:30: Atmospheric entry begins 1,190 miles (1,920 km) above Saturn’s cloud tops. Attitude thrusters firing at 10% capacity to keep space craft stable.

September 15, 11:32: Around 930 miles above the cloud tops. With its attitude thrusters at 100% capacity, Cassini begins to lose stability and tumble due to atmospheric drag. The narrow beam high gain antenna swerves away from Earth, and all contact with the space craft is lost. Cassini’s on-board computer runs through automatic fault protection procedures in a last-ditch attempt to keep the space craft stable and safe.

Cassini is on course to plunge through Saturn's atmosphere and vaporize like a meteor Friday morning. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute via AP)Cassini is on course to plunge through Saturn's atmosphere and vaporize like a meteor Friday morning. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute via AP)
Cassini is on course to plunge through Saturn's atmosphere and vaporize like a meteor Friday morning. (NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute via AP)
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Because of the time it takes for radio waves to travel from Saturn, signal loss is confirmed by scientists on Earth at 12.55.

Within a matter of seconds Cassini begins to break up. Temperature soars, turning the probe into a fragmenting fireball by the time it reaches cloud top height. As the probe plunges deep into Saturn’s atmosphere, intense heat and pressure will cause all its materials to melt and become consumed into the planet’s interior.

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