Nasa has lost contact with Cassini, the little spacecraft that is currently flying through Saturn's rings.

Engineers and scientists will have to wait a full day before they know whether the craft has survived the first of its 22 dives through the edges of Saturn's atmosphere, because it is now out of contact.

The dive was the first event of Cassini's "Grand Finale", which will see it fly ever closer to Saturn until it is destroyed by its own atmosphere. But each of those dives is dangerous – and might lead to damage or the destruction of the Cassini ship.

Cassini's mission to Saturn Show all 9 1 /9 Cassini's mission to Saturn Cassini's mission to Saturn In this handout image released on April 30, 2013 by NASA, the spinning vortex of Saturn's north polar storm is seen from NASA's Cassini spacecraft on November 27, 2012 in the Saturnian system of space. The false-color image of the storm resembles a red rose surrounded by green foliage which was made by using a combination of spectral filters sensitive to wavelengths of near-infrared light at a distance of approximately 261,000 miles from Saturn NASA via Getty Images Cassini's mission to Saturn The planet Saturn is seen in the first color composite made of images taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on its approach to the ringed planet, October 21, 2002. The probe's arrival is still 20 months away. The planet was 285 million kilometers (177 million miles) away from the spacecraft, nearly twice the distance between the Sun and Earth, when Cassini took images of it using various filters NASA/Getty Images Cassini's mission to Saturn Nasa's Cassini spacecraft is shown diving through the plume of Saturn's moon Enceladus in 2015 Nasa/JPL-Caltech/Reuters Cassini's mission to Saturn NASA's Cassini spacecraft captured this view of planet Earth as a point of light between the icy rings of Saturn NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute Cassini's mission to Saturn The giant plumes of ice on Enceladus seen by the Cassini spacecraft in 2009 Nasa Cassini's mission to Saturn The image of Titan is actually a composite of a number of pictures taken by Cassini during the flyby Cassini's mission to Saturn The unique six-sided jet stream at Saturn's north pole known as "the hexagon" taken by NASA's Cassini mission is seen in this still handout image from a movie released December 4, 2013. The movie, made from images obtained by Cassini's imaging cameras, is the first to show the hexagon in color filters, and the first movie to show a complete view from the north pole down to about 70 degrees north latitude. REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Hampton/Handout (OUTER SPACE - Tags: SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY) THIS IMAGE HAS BEEN SUPPLIED BY A THIRD PARTY. IT IS DISTRIBUTED, EXACTLY AS RECEIVED BY REUTERS, AS A SERVICE TO CLIENTS. FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - RTX163SO REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/SSI/Hampton/Handout Cassini's mission to Saturn REUTERS/NASA/JPL-Caltech/Space Science Institute/Handout Cassini's mission to Saturn A handout photograph shows the first flash of sunlight reflected off a lake on Saturn's moon Titan taken by NASA's Cassini spacecraft on July 8, 2009 and released by NASA to Reuters December 17, 2009. The glint off a mirror-like surface is known as a specular reflection. It confirmed the presence of liquid in the moon's northern hemisphere, where lakes are more numerous and larger than those in the southern hemisphere. REUTERS/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/DLR/Handout (UNITED STATES - Tags: SCI TECH IMAGES OF THE DAY) FOR EDITORIAL USE ONLY. NOT FOR SALE FOR MARKETING OR ADVERTISING CAMPAIGNS - RTXRYK8 REUTERS/NASA/JPL/University of Arizona/DLR/Handout

Flying so close to the rings and cloudtops of Saturn allows scientists to capture information on the planet at a level it has never done before. But it also endangers the ship as it moves around the planet.

Because of that danger – primarily a result of the fact that the ship is flying over 70,000 miles per hour as it moves through the rings – scientists are now out of contact with the ship. To try and minimise the risk, scientists pointed the large antenna that would send messages back in the direction of travel, using as a shield and leading Cassini to lose touch.

The narrow gap that it is diving through is a region no spacecraft has ever explored. So scientists took the decision to move the antenna – which is about 13 feet across – to keep it from being damaged on its first dive.

Scientists expect anything the ship encounters to be as small as a smoke particle, but made the decision as a precaution. They will look at data from the Cassini's instruments once it gets back in touch, to find out the size and density of any particles and to understand whether the same move needs to be done in the future.

It won't be back in touch with Nasa's deep space network before the very early morning of 27 April, though it might take even longer. As such, it will have been offline for more than a day.

When it does get back in touch, scientists will be able to check on the health of the craft and make sure it will be able to survive until 15 September, when it is planned to end its fatal descent.