Saturn probe to set up death plunge

The spacecraft is set to fly close to the giant moon Titan - an encounter that will bend its trajectory just enough to send it into the atmosphere of the ringed planet on Friday. Once the orbit has been tweaked, nothing can stop the death plunge. Cassini will be torn to pieces within seconds of entering Saturn's gases. "That final flyby of Titan will put Cassini on an impacting trajectory and there is absolutely no coming out of it," said Earl Maize, the Cassini programme manager at the US space agency (Nasa).