Saturn 2017 - September - Cassini - Nuclear Sun

Starting in late 2016, Cassini will zip between Saturn and its innermost ring a total of 22 times in a mission phase now known as the "Cassini Grand Finale," which will end in September 2017 when the probe intentionally dives into the gas giant's atmosphere.

Like the earlier Galileo probe, Cassini has plutonium fuel rods which upon implosion could create a powerful nuclear fission detonation on Saturn. Due to the 72 lbs of plutonium on Cassini, 50% more than the 48lbs on Galileo, and the less dense atmospheric pressures on Saturn which has only 30% of Jupiter's mass, Saturn is a better host for a runaway nuclear fusion process than Jupiter. If Saturn were to be ignited, it would create a gigantic pulse of hydrogen and other particles as up to 10% of its mass was cast off, and would eventually reach the Earth with possibly catastrophic consequences.

If this happened, what would be the impact on earth?

originally posted by: temujiin

Starting in late 2016, Cassini will zip between Saturn and its innermost ring a total of 22 times in a mission phase now known as the "Cassini Grand Finale," which will end in September 2017 when the probe intentionally dives into the gas giant's atmosphere.

Like the earlier Galileo probe, Cassini has plutonium fuel rods which upon implosion could create a powerful nuclear fission detonation on Saturn. Due to the 72 lbs of plutonium on Cassini, 50% more than the 48lbs on Galileo, and the less dense atmospheric pressures on Saturn which has only 30% of Jupiter's mass, Saturn is a better host for a runaway nuclear fusion process than Jupiter. If Saturn were to be ignited, it would create a gigantic pulse of hydrogen and other particles as up to 10% of its mass was cast off, and would eventually reach the Earth with possibly catastrophic consequences.

If this happened, what would be the impact on earth?

Your source please.

Nothing will happen when Cassini is sent into Saturn's atmosphere.


Project Lucifer: Will Cassini Turn Saturn into a Second Sun? (Part 1)

Now this is where the intrigue begins. Long before Galileo plummeted into Jupiter’s atmosphere, conspiracy theorists cited that NASA wanted to create an explosion within the body of the gas giant, thus igniting a chain reaction, creating a second sun (Jupiter is often called a ‘failed star’, although it has always been way too small to support nuclear reactions in its core). This was proven wrong on many counts, but there were three main reasons why this could not happen:
1.The design of the radioisotope thermoelectric generators (RTGs) supplying energy to the craft wouldn’t allow it.
2.The physics behind a nuclear explosion (nuclear fission) wouldn’t allow it.
3.The physics of how a star works (nuclear fusion) wouldn’t allow it.

a reply to: EternalSolace

Could it ignite the whole saturn for a few days?

a reply to: FyreByrd

Project Lucifer

I don't know what your source for this drivel is, but it's absolutely not true. The plutonium used by Cassini is Pu-238, processed with other metals, in a ceramic form, and is utterly incapable of creating a "powerful nuclear fission detonation".

It is designed so that if there had been any sort of launch or re-entry accident, it would break up into relatively large, solid pieces, that wouldn't really pose any danger unless you were to hold it in your hand.

a reply to: temujiin

No. There is no oxidizer to "burn" in the way we are accustomed to, as in a campfire. Any explosion that Cassini will make will be quickly snuffed out.

Saturn isn't big enough, even Jupiter isn't big enough, and both do not have the density required to sustain fusion (be turned into a star).

a reply to: EternalSolace

Thx =)

a reply to: temujiin

I'm sure larger objects traveling at sufficient velocity have entered in to the atmosphere of Saturn without creating a runway nuclear chain reaction during the history of our solar system.

I appreciate the OP for asking and not telling. Seems to me the motto of ATS is being upheld.

originally posted by: temujiin
a reply to: FyreByrd

Project Lucifer

Thank you....

For Saturn, the Cassini impact will be like an airborn bacteria slamming into your body - completely inconsequential in terms of impact energy being released.

When the comet Shoemaker-Levy slammed into Jupiter in 1994, the resulting explosions were estimated to have released an energy equivalent to 6,000,000 megatons of TNT (600 times the world's nuclear arsenal). All Jupiter got was some dark "scars" in its upper atmosphere that eventually disappeared.

a reply to: wildespace

More to the point, when the Galileo spacecraft was similarly crashed into Jupiter in 2003, nothing noticeable happened to Jupiter.

If they're crashing the probe into the atmosphere, is it possible for it to enter the atmosphere without getting torn apart on entry? Would it get torn up as it gets closer? If it can theoretically do this, can the probe take pictures from inside the atmosphere of Saturn? I always thought it would be absolutely amazing to see real pictures from inside a gas giant.

originally posted by: Javik
If they're crashing the probe into the atmosphere, is it possible for it to enter the atmosphere without getting torn apart on entry? Would it get torn up as it gets closer? If it can theoretically do this, can the probe take pictures from inside the atmosphere of Saturn? I always thought it would be absolutely amazing to see real pictures from inside a gas giant.

How would those pictures get transmitted to Earth?

The Galileo Spacecraft, which orbited Jupiter from 1995 until it, too, was crashed into Jupiter in 2003, sent a small probe into Jupiter in 1995 (it was actually released by the mother ship "Galileo Spacecraft" towards Jupiter a few months prior to the mother ship reaching Jupiter). The probe had several scientific instruments, but it had no camera.

I'm not sure what the reason was for having no camera, but maybe they figured images would not show much besides a homogeneous soup of gas, or maybe the bandwidth required to send back images before the orbiting mother ship lost contact with it was too much to be able to also send data back to the mother ship.

Galileo Probe Info:
Galileo Probe Wikipedia

Galileo Probe NASA page

originally posted by: Javik
If they're crashing the probe into the atmosphere, is it possible for it to enter the atmosphere without getting torn apart on entry? Would it get torn up as it gets closer? If it can theoretically do this, can the probe take pictures from inside the atmosphere of Saturn? I always thought it would be absolutely amazing to see real pictures from inside a gas giant.

It's possible to do this with a probe built for the purpose. Unfortunately, Cassini is not built for this purpose. Any probe would hit the atmosphere at several miles per second - literally meteoric speed. Without a heavy heat shield, it cannot survive. As SGiP pointed out, you'd also need a space probe nearby to relay the signal.

Cassini did carry a probe (Huygens), but it landed on Titan. If we build bigger launch vehicles, then we could send spacecraft with several atmospheric probes to the outer planets. That would cost a lot of money, though - a commodity controlled by people with a stunning lack of vision.

originally posted by: Javik
If they're crashing the probe into the atmosphere, is it possible for it to enter the atmosphere without getting torn apart on entry? Would it get torn up as it gets closer? If it can theoretically do this, can the probe take pictures from inside the atmosphere of Saturn? I always thought it would be absolutely amazing to see real pictures from inside a gas giant.

Well, the clouds on Earth look great from distance, but once you get inside one it looks like you're in a deep fog, not that interesting at all. I'd imagine that's what a camera inside Saturn's atmosphere would see. Besides, Saturn has the fastest winds in the Solar System, so I'd imagine the diving spacecraft would get torn into bits pretty quick. Still, Cassini might get some cool pictures just outside of Saturn's atmosphere.

What a Journey.