Cassini: Saturn probe turns towards its death plunge
卡西尼： 土星探测器转向，将完成它自我毁灭之路
Methane rains out of Titan's orange sky
甲烷从泰坦的橘红色天空如雨而降
The international Cassini spacecraft at Saturn has executed the course correction that will send it to destruction at the end of the week.
探测土星的卡西尼国际太空飞行器已经更改道，将在周末飞上毁灭之旅。
Cassini began its study of the ringed planet in 2004
卡西尼从2004年开始研究这个带着光环的行星
The probe flew within 120,000km of the giant moon Titan on Monday - an encounter that bent its trajectory just enough to put it on a collision path with the ringed planet.
卡西尼探测器于星期一，擦着土星巨型月球泰坦的120,000km的距离飞过-这次的擦肩而过，把卡西尼送上了与这个带着光环的行星正面冲撞的飞行轨道上。
Nothing can now stop the death plunge in Saturn's atmosphere on Friday.
这一来，什么也不能阻挡它在本周五，将向土星大气层发起的死亡冲击。
Cassini will be torn to pieces as it heads down towards the clouds.
卡西尼将在一头扎向土星的云层时，被撕成碎片。
Its components will melt and be dispersed through the planet's gases.
探测器的部件将熔化并且通过行星的气体烟消云散。
Ever since it arrived at Saturn 13 years ago, the probe has used the gravity of Titan-the second biggest moon in the Solar System-to slingshot itself into different positions from which to study the planet and its stunning rings.
自从13年前，它到达土星之后,这个探测器就利用了泰坦的引力将自己弹射到不同的位置,以研究这个行星及其令人惊叹的光环。泰坦是太阳系中第二大的卫星。
It has been a smart strategy because Cassini would otherwise have had to fire up its propulsion system and drain its fuel reserves every time it wanted to make a big change in direction.
这是一个明智之举,否则卡西尼号也会在每次改变方向时消耗自己的燃料储备来维持它的推进系统正常工作。
As it is, those propellants are almost exhausted and Nasa is determined the spacecraft will not be permitted to just drift around Saturn uncontrolled; it must be disposed of properly and fully.
尽管如此,那些推进剂也已经几乎用尽了,并且美国航空航天局非常坚定表示，他们不会让这个航天器失控地漂泊在土星附近，这个探测器必须得到完好的和充分的处理。
The agency called Monday's last encounter with Titan the "kiss goodbye”.
NASA称Cassini周一的与泰坦的最后一次相遇就是“吻别"了。
"Cassini has been in a long-term relationship with Titan, with a new rendezvous nearly every month for more than a decade," said Earl Maize, the Cassini project manager at Nasa's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.
美国宇航局喷气推进实验室的卡西尼项目经理Earl Maize说：”卡西尼已经与泰坦已经相处很久了，十多年间，几乎每个月都约会一次。。”
"This final encounter is something of a bittersweet goodbye, but as it has done throughout the mission, Titan's gravity is once again sending Cassini where we need it to go.”
“这最后的相遇是一种苦乐参半的告别，但正如这个任务所设定的那样，泰坦的引力将再次将卡西尼送到我们需要它去的地方。
Closest approach to the moon's surface occurred at 19:04 GMT (20:04 BST; 15:04 EDT; 12:04 PDT).
与泰坦表面最接近的一刻是在19:04 GMT (20:04 BST; 15:04 EDT; 12:04 PDT)发生的。
As the probe passed Titan, it gathered some images and other science data that will be streamed back to Earth on Tuesday.
在探测器飞过泰坦的过程中，它收集了一些图像和其他科学数据。这些信息将在星期二发回地球。
The investigation of the 5,150km-wide moon has been one of the outstanding successes of the Cassini mission.
对这个5,150公里宽的月球的调查是卡西尼号项目的杰出成就之一。
The spacecraft put a small robot called Huygens on its surface in 2005. It returned a remarkable image of rounded pebbles that had been smoothed by the action of flowing liquid methane. This hydrocarbon rains from Titan's orange sky and runs into huge seas at northern latitudes.
Cassini在2005年将一个叫做Huygens的小机器人放在泰坦的表面上。Huygens发回了一个非凡的图像。图像显示在平滑的流动液体甲烷的影响下形成的圆形鹅卵石。这种碳氢化合物（甲烷）从泰坦的橙色天空中像雨似的落到表面,在北纬的区域形成海洋。
Cassini also spied what are presumed to be volcanoes that spew an icy slush and vast dunes made from a plastic-like sand.
卡西尼还侦察到了被认为是火山喷发的冰泥和由塑料般的沙子形成的巨大的沙丘。
Cassini scientist Michelle Dougherty from Imperial College London, UK, says there will be an effort in the days up to Friday to try to squeeze out every last scientific observation.
来自英国伦敦帝国理工学院的卡西尼号科学家Michelle Dougherty说,在星期五前到达之前的几天里，我们将会尽一切可能的把每一个最后的科学观察放进去。
"We're now running on fumes," she told BBC Radio 4's Inside Science programme.
"我们在燃料上现在几乎弹尽粮绝了,"她告诉BBC电台4的节目科学内幕。
"The fact that we've got as far as we have, so close to the end of mission, is spectacular. We're almost there and it's going to be really sad watching it happen.”
"我们取得的这么多的成就,我们这么接近这个项目的尾声,这本身已经非常了不起了。就快接近尾声了,看着这个结局，我们会很伤心。
Besides a last look at Titan, scientists want to get a few more pictures of the rings and the moon Enceladus, before then configuring the spacecraft for its dramatic scuttling.
除了看泰坦最后一眼,科学家们还想再多拍一些光环和恩塞拉都斯（土卫二）的照片。在这之后，他们会设定这个太空船的戏剧性的自我毁灭。
The idea is to use only those instruments at the end that can sense Saturn's near-space environment, such as its magnetic field, or can sample the composition of its gases.
现在的计划是在尾声之际，只使用的那些能探测土星近空间环境的仪器，比如它的磁场,或者可以对它的气体成分进行取样。
In the final three hours or so before "impact" on Friday, all data acquired by the spacecraft will be relayed straight to Earth, bypassing the onboard solid state memory.
在星期五的"撞击"之前的最后三小时左右，航天器所获得的所有数据都将跳过机载固态存储器，直接传送到地球。
Contact with the probe after it has entered the atmosphere will be short, measured perhaps in a few tens of seconds.
Cassini一旦进入大气层，（地球）和Cassini的接触将是短暂的,也许是几十秒。
The signal at Earth is expected to drop off around 11:55 GMT (12:55 BST; 07:55 EDT; 04:55 PDT). Engineers will be able to be more precise once they have looked at the position of the probe after Monday's change in course.
在地球上的信号失联将是大约11:55 GMT (12:55 BST; 07:55 EDT; 04:55 PDT)。工程师在星期一探测器位置调整之后观察之后将会更精确（判断预计的失联事件）。
"The Cassini mission has taught us so very much, and to me personally I find great comfort from the fact that Cassini will continue teaching us right up to the very last seconds," said Curt Niebur, the Cassini programme scientist at Nasa Headquarters in Washington, DC.
“卡西尼号使命教会了我们很多，对我个人来说，卡西尼号直到它的最后几秒钟都将继续指导着我们，这让我感到非常欣慰,"驻华盛顿特区的美国宇航局总部的卡西尼计划科学家Curt Niebur说。
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