Kxmode wrote on Sep 11, 2017, 18:04:

jdreyer wrote on Sep 11, 2017, 06:14:
Saturn's gravity at surface is less than Earth due to it being so much less dense. So the gravity well is a non issue. Pressure is also a non issue. Cassini is not designed for reentry and will be destroyed by heat as soon as it breaches the mesosphere. When you hit atmo at 50k mph, you heat up several thousand degrees. This is a problem even on planets with almost no atmo like Mars. Cassini can't take the heat and will be destroyed before pressure has exceeded 0.1 atmo. It will never get far enough to experience 10 or 20 Atmos of pressure in Saturn's lower atmosphere.

Cool beans. Let us hope before it goes out in a blaze of glory it gets plenty of photos.

jdreyer wrote on Sep 10, 2017, 15:02:
How to steer a spacecraft into Saturn

I can't wait to see these pics. Incredible.