Last night I watched the NOVA program "Death Dive to Saturn". It's worth watching (duh) for the awe intrinsic to the science and engineering but also the snapshot of history and eternal human memories it took with it.
http://pressroom.pbs.org/Programs/n/NOV ... -to-Saturn
As the program presented what is known, baffling, mysterious et al, it ended on a sad note for the tiny humans who made it possible. Those who shepherded the Cassini since its inception were all going to disperse and "move on". It made me a little misty to think about, let alone a member of a team with such intimate dedication of selflessness. Just minutes before they were describing two Earths fitting inside the center of the hexagonal atmospheric/magnetic field anomaly/mystery on Saturn's north pole. A personal nod to the perspective in size was that moving on meant they would be traveling a "vast" distance upon one of the two "tiny" planets that could fit within one of the tiny features on a much larger planet.
The program then briefly touched on the computing power of the decades old spacecraft in which they have a working "replica" of in the basement of JPL where they test all mission routines before upload upon what appears frighteningly in need of an upgrade. The engineers spoke of the advanced design and redundancies with the added "would you believe it, your smart phone is many times more powerful than anything onboard!" It's still working of course, but it is just about out of propellant and thus tomorrow it takes the plunge.
Here is what I mean about perspective and why I almost find it most fascinating of all.
When Cassini launched from Earth in 1997 there were between 36 million and 70 million Internet users upon said planet.
Tomorrow, when it dies in 2017, there are approximately 4 BILLION users.
The first iteration of the Cassini website (that I can find) is from 2002 and you can see it here:
https://web.archive.org/web/20020605062 ... ndex.shtml
Here it is today in 2017:
https://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/
Seems like such a "no shit, what did you expect" type thing, but I don't think it is. It is much more. Don't just think of Cassini for this thread (or do) but think of all sorts of strange observations in space, time and technology that simply do not get the notice they deserve. Small things. Big things. Anything. Add them here if you want!
The First “Camera Phone” Photograph Was Sent in 1997
Cell phone photography is a huge trend these days with Instagram skyrocketing past 10 million users this past weekend, but have you ever wondered how it all started? An entrepreneur named Philippe Kahn is credited with creating the camera phone back in 1997. On June 11th of that year, Kahn took the first “camera phone” photo of his newborn daughter in a maternity ward, and then wirelessly transmitted the photo to more than 2,000 people around the world. Since “camera phones” didn’t exist at that time, Kahn actually hacked together a primitive one by combining a digital camera and a cell phone to send the photos in real time.
https://petapixel.com/2011/09/27/the-fi ... n-in-1997/
