NASA Has Big Plans For 2017

<p>You might have plans to get in shape or save money in 2017, but it&#39;s safe to say&nbsp;<a href="http://nasa.tumblr.com/post/155251946559/whats-in-store-for-2017-at-nasa" target="_blank">NASA&#39;s</a>&nbsp;plans are a bit more ambitious.</p><p>2017 will mark the end of the&nbsp;<a href="https://www.nasa.gov/feature/jpl/cassini-begins-epic-final-year-at-saturn" target="_blank">Cassini</a>&nbsp;spacecraft. For more than a decade, Cassini beamed back hundreds of gigabytes of data about Saturn, its moons and its rings.</p><p><b>SEE MORE: <a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/2016-space-exploration-was-enlightening-and-kinda-weird/">2016 Space Exploration Was Enlightening And Kinda Weird</a></b></p><p>Now that Cassini&#39;s job is complete, it&#39;s going out in a blaze of glory. In April, the satellite will circle ever closer to Saturn until it breaks apart in the planet&#39;s atmosphere.</p><p>A few hundred million miles away from Cassini, NASA will launch the neutron star Interior Composition Explorer,&nbsp;<a href="https://heasarc.gsfc.nasa.gov/docs/nicer/" target="_blank">or NICER</a>. It&#39;s an instrument that will examine super-dense neutron stars and tell us what&#39;s going on inside them.</p><p>Neutron stars contain&nbsp;<a href="http://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/science/objects/pulsars1.html" target="_blank">more mass</a>&nbsp;than the sun, but they&#39;re a little over 12 miles in diameter. We still have no idea how that works, but scientists are eager to find out.</p><p>NASA doesn&#39;t plan to spend all of 2017 looking into the cosmos. It&#39;s also launching equipment to the International Space Station to monitor Earth&#39;s ozone layer. SAGE III will provide crucial information to track the planet&#39;s progress in improving the ozone&#39;s health.</p><p><b>SEE MORE: <a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/birds-pose-safety-threats-to-nasa-s-rockets/">How To Keep Birds From Sabotaging The US Space Program</a></b></p><p>That&#39;s just a taste of what NASA has in store for 2017.&nbsp;</p><hr><b>Trending stories at <a href="http://www.newsy.com">Newsy.com</a></b><ul class="inline-related-links"><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/driverless-cars-could-worsen-organ-shortage/">Driverless Cars May Worsen The Organ Shortage, But Science Has Answers</a></li><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/birds-pose-safety-threats-to-nasa-s-rockets/">How To Keep Birds From Sabotaging The US Space Program</a></li><li><a href="http://www.newsy.com/stories/atoms-earth-s-rotation-create-leap-second-on-new-year-s-eve/">Why You&#039;ll Have To Wait A Second Longer For The New Year</a></li></ul>