Cassini - The Grand Finale .. End of Mission Timeline
"Cassini Spacecraft’s Death Plunge Into Saturn Will End Close-Up Study Of The Moon Titan"
VIDEO
On the final orbit, Cassini will plunge into Saturn fighting to keep its antenna pointed at Earth as it transmits its farewell. In the skies of Saturn, the journey ends, as Cassini becomes part of the planet itself. Watch the full video here.
On Sept. 15, 2017, the Cassini spacecraft will make a fateful plunge into Saturn's atmosphere, ending the mission just one month shy of its 20th launch anniversary.
Projected Times
Because Saturn is so far from Earth, Cassini will have been gone for about 83 minutes by the time its final signal reaches the Deep Space Network's Canberra station in Australia on Sept. 15, 2017.
The current predicted time for loss of signal on Earth is 4:55 a.m. PDT (7:55 a.m. EDT) on Sept. 15, 2017. This time may change as Saturn's atmosphere slows Cassini during each of the final orbits.
Times in left column are spacecraft event time, i.e., when the events happen at Saturn. "ERT" (in right column for some entries) refers to Earth received time, which is the time when the spacecraft's signal relaying the event arrives on Earth. After events happen at Saturn, it takes 83 minutes for Cassini's radio signal to reach Earth.
All times are estimates and may change by a few minutes based on the density of Saturn's atmosphere as encountered by the spacecraft in its final five orbits.