Hey! Sunday nite will mark 20yrs since Cassini's arrival at Saturn & the start of the most magnificent exploration (outside Voyager) our species has ever undertaken!
I have a *big* post planned for the occasion.
Please subscribe to carolynporco.substack.com & remember w/ me the glory of it all!🪐
Hard to argue with the exploration aspect.
OTOH, GAIA has been absolutely phenomenal in terms of what we have learned about the galaxy outside the solar system.
Actually, GAIA has been phenomenal inside the solar system too. We can now get high quality orbits of asteroids, for instance.
I'm sure it has. But it didn't travel across the solar system and enter orbit around the most splendid, phenomenologically rich planet in our solar system.
