Por Qué Es Imposible Viajar a Saturno Documental

Saturn is one of the most beautiful planets visible from Earth. But the reality is that, if we were to travel there, we could never land. Because Saturn has no solid ground, and trying to descend would be an endless fall. Besides the fact that we couldn't traverse it due to our gravity. But there are many more reasons why traveling to Saturn would be impossible. Saturn is the second-largest planet in the Solar System, surpassed only by Jupiter. It is more than 700 times the size of planet Earth, and from here we can see that enormous planet. A perfect sphere but surrounded by several rings. But that image is misleading, because Saturn is not a planet like the ones we know. It belongs to a category called gas giants. That is, it is not mainly made of rock or soil, but of gas. Primarily hydrogen and helium, the same elements that make up stars. In reality, Saturn is more like a large sphere composed of clouds, storms, and gases rotating. In addition, there is an infinite ocean of gas. It encompasses the entire planet. Now imagine that you decide to travel to Saturn. The first problem is that this planet is more than 1.4 billion kilometers away from Earth. It is such a great distance that sunlight takes more than an hour to reach there. Even spatial waves, which are designed to travel only, take years to arrive. In the case of Cassini, which was one of the most important missions in history, It took almost seven years to reach Saturn. However, the distance and the time it would take to get there are merely the smaller problems. The real problem begins when you try to enter the planet. To begin with, its outer layers are a region filled with giant clouds. Which, from a distance, we can identify as yellow and beige stripes. They can be so large that they would cover entire continents. But they are not clouds like the ones we know. These are enormous storm systems that can stretch for thousands of kilometers. Scientists have observed phenomena known as the Great White Spot, giant storms that appear every several decades and can encircle the entire planet. But the most dangerous thing is not the clouds, but the winds, which exceed 1,800 kilometers per hour. For comparison, the strongest hurricanes on Earth reach speeds of approximately 250 kilometers per hour. That means winds on Saturn can be seven times faster. And these storms can last for years, or even decades. In a scenario where a spacecraft could navigate through these winds and enter the planet, the situation would be even worse. Because, as we mentioned, Saturn is composed of gases, so there is no ground upon which to land. The ship would begin to sink deeper and deeper, and as you descend, the surroundings change rapidly. The pressure begins to increase, the heat starts to rise, and gravity pushes you harder and harder downward. At first, the gas around feels like air, but little by little it ceases to feel that way. It becomes thicker, heavier, and denser, until there comes a point when it no longer seems like air at all. but begins to behave like an invisible ocean made of compressed gas. And that would begin to affect the ship. The creaking of metal would be the first sound. Then, the hull would begin to deform, the walls would buckle, Electronic systems would begin to fail and internal structures would collapse. And in the end, the pressure would be so brutal that the ship would simply be crushed. And all of that would happen much before reaching Saturn's center. Scientists believe that hydrogen, the most abundant gas in Saturn, It is compressed so much that it transforms into a very strange substance called metallic hydrogen. It is an extremely compressed liquid that conducts electricity like a metal. And that material makes up much of Saturn. Beneath all of that, a small rocky core is believed to possibly exist. something similar to a planet buried within the giant. But getting there is practically impossible. The pressure at these depths would be millions of times greater than the pressure we feel on Earth. In a hypothetical situation, where a ship were to reach not the center, to a considerable distance from Saturn, it would eventually have to return. On the contrary, it would be even more complicated. Due to its enormous gravity, a rocket needs to reach about 40,000 kilometers per hour in order to escape. That is called escape velocity. Yes, it is the minimum speed necessary to escape a planet's gravity. But on Saturn it would have to be even greater. A ship would need to exceed approximately 130,000 kilometers per hour to escape. That is, more than three times the speed required on Earth. But the problem is not just gravity. The problem is the environment you're trapped in. Well, Saturn has no ground. That means there's no solid surface from which to take off. It is constantly floating or falling within this enormous ocean of gas. The engines would have to fight against the pressure, the gas density, the violent currents, and the gravity of the same planet. Basically, the planet is constantly trying to swallow the ship. The risk is so high that although attempts have been made to reach Saturn, the reality is that this has only been accomplished using robots. No human has come near. Only space probes, sent to observe the planet and its moons. And with each journey, ever more unsettling discoveries were made. The first experiment was called Pioneer 11 and is considered the first visitor to Saturn. It was launched in 1973 by NASA. At that moment, scientists knew very little about Saturn. They weren't even sure a ship could pass near the planet without being destroyed by its rings. And in fact, the main objective was not Saturn. First, I had to travel to Jupiter to study it. And after completing that part of the mission, the spacecraft used Jupiter's immense gravity as a kind of cosmic slingshot, that launched it even farther, toward Saturn. Finally, in 1979, it became the first spacecraft created by humanity to visit Saturn. But that doesn't mean he was able to get in. It simply flew by, in a quick pass. However, during that brief encounter, Pioneer 11 accomplished several important things. First, he was able to take photographs of the planet. Then it measured the radiation around Saturn. And he also studied the structure of its rings for the first time. He even discovered a previously unseen, very thin new ring. But the ship couldn't stay. Scientists knew that Saturn could be extremely dangerous for a spacecraft, since the rings are filled with fragments of ice and rock traveling at high speed. A collision with one of those fragments could destroy a ship in seconds. That's why Pioneer 11 passed by it only a couple of hours. After Pioneer 11, came two of the most famous spacecraft ever built by humanity. Voyager 1 and Voyager 2. Both were launched in 1977 by NASA, with the mission of exploring the giant planets of the Solar System. These spacecraft used the gravity of planets as if they were cosmic slingshots. That is, each time they passed near a giant planet, its gravity accelerated them and flung them even farther into space. Thanks to this technique, called gravitational assist, The Voyagers were able to travel enormous distances without using much fuel. First they arrived at Jupiter, and then they continued their journey toward Saturn. Voyager 1 arrived at the planet in 1980, and Voyager 2 did so one year later, in 1981. During those encounters, the probes sent back to Earth some of the most detailed images ever seen. And thanks to them, we had new discoveries. For example, scientists detected new rings around Saturn, much more complex than previously thought. They also observed giant storms in their atmospheres, some so large they could cover several planets the size of Earth. But the most fascinating were its frozen moons. The Voyagers revealed strange worlds orbiting Saturn. One of the most surprising was Titan, a moon enveloped in a dense atmosphere that hides its surface. They also showed details of other icy moons, with cracks and craters. But just like Pioneer 11, the probes did not stay for long. No one even attempted to enter Saturn. The last documented mission and the most ambitious one was Cassini-Huygens. Cassini-Huygens was launched in 1997 in a collaboration between NASA, the European Space Agency, and the Italian Space Agency. Your journey was long. For seven years, the spacecraft traversed the Solar System, using the gravity of several planets to gain speed. Finally, in 2004, Cassini arrived at Saturn. However, unlike previous missions, it entered orbit around Saturn. That is, it began to orbit the planet repeatedly, observing it for years. In total, Cassini studied Saturn for thirteen years. Thanks to this, he was able to discover things such as the famous rings of Saturn not being solid structures, but are actually composed of millions of fragments of ice and rock. Some as small as grains of sand and others as large as mountains. All orbiting the planet at incredible speeds. But perhaps the most impactful discoveries occurred on its moons. In one of them, called Enceladus, Cassini detected massive geysers of salty water erupting from cracks in its surface. That is, beneath its ice, there exists a hidden liquid ocean. A place that is now considered one of the best candidates for finding life beyond Earth. Another fascinating moon is Titan. It has rivers, lakes, and rain. But not of water, rather they are made of liquid methane and ethane. A completely different climate cycle from that of our planet. In 2017, the scientists decided to sacrifice the spacecraft. Because some of Saturn's moons, such as Enceladus, might harbor microscopic life in their oceans. And if Cassini ran out of fuel and lost control, it could crash into one of those moons. And if it carried Earth's bacteria on its surface, it could contaminate a world that might already have its own life. So the scientists directed the spacecraft straight toward Saturn. It penetrated the upper layers of the atmosphere. But little by little, the planet began to destroy the ship until it was crushed and disintegrated. Although it was a tragic ending, Cassini's discoveries were greatly helpful in understanding Saturn's behavior a little better. Thanks to each of the investigations, today we can understand a little more about the complexity of that planet and its formation. But that does not diminish the unsettling nature of its structure or the potential danger it could pose. Although the study of Saturn has been highly valuable, it also leaves us with the sense of risk involved in getting close to a planet composed solely of gas and pressure.