Q&A with Jonathan Lunine on Enceladus’ prospects for life

Heino Falcke, an accomplished radio astronomer at Radboud University in the Netherlands, leads a team of European scientists and engineers who developed a scientific receiver flying on China’s Queqiao spacecraft flying to a point in space beyond the far side of the moon.

Dutifully beaming back data to the very end, NASA’s long-lived Cassini probe slammed into Saturn’s atmosphere at some 77,000 mph Friday, blazing like a shooting star as it was ripped apart and incinerated in the final chapter of an enormously successful mission.

NASA officials released never-before-seen views of a spacecraft landing on another planet Monday, showcasing multi-angle replays recorded by ruggedized high-definition cameras mounted on the Perseverance rover last week when it safely touched down on Mars.