Cassini Weekly Significant Events for 10/05/00 – 10/11/00
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Madrid tracking station on Tuesday, October 10. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. The speed of the spacecraft can be viewed on the "Where is Cassini Now?" web page
( "http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/where/" )
Activities this week included a Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA) Slow Time Memory Read Out (MRO), clearing of the Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) Write Protect Bit, a High Water Mark Clear, and a RWA Unload. The Jupiter Phase A – 5 Day Repeating Template continues with the second instance of the template performed this week. Some of the Jupiter images from the first template have been released and are available on the JPL web site as well as the Cassini and Jupiter Millennium Flyby web sites (see below).
Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrometer (UVIS) personnel have reviewed the first Jupiter system data obtained during execution of the 5 Day Template. UVIS images are providing an excellent combination of spatial, spectral, and temporal resolution of the Io torus. Instrument performance and
sensitivity is nominal, with observed counting rates within 30% of the model of the torus calculated from Voyager and Galileo data. The torus appears to "wobble" as Jupiter rotates, due to the magnetic field tilt. Extreme Ultraviolet (EUV) and Far Ultraviolet (FUV) spectral images show numerous emissions from the Io torus, Jupiter aurora, and reflected sunlight from the Jupiter atmosphere. Hydrogen/Deuterium Absorption Cell (HDAC) and FUV channels provide 360-degree views of interplanetary hydrogen Lyman-alpha emission, with peaks when the slit sweeps across Jupiter.
The Cassini Program Manager and Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) Team Leader have made arrangements for a subset of ISS Jupiter images to be displayed lab-wide at JPL using resources of the Multi Mission Image Processing Laboratory (MIPL) and the JPL Media Relations office.
The RADAR team is continuing analyses of data taken just prior to the start of Jupiter observations. Results to date indicate that the first sequence using the Pointing Design Tool (PDT) and incorporating the module GENMOS_R worked as planned. These data are providing valuable radiometric calibration data, as well as RADAR beam pattern information. The RADAR team has submitted a paper for inclusion in the Journal of Geophysical Research’s special issue, "First Results from Cassini." This paper will discuss the RADAR results from the Venus-1 and Earth Flyby sequences.
The Integrated Test Laboratory (ITL) completed testing of the Cruise Sequence 23 this week. Cruise sequence 23 is the sequence that contains the Jupiter closest approach science activities. Included in the testing was the GENMOS_CD module as well as a loading test.
The signed Cassini Archive Plan for Science Data, Version 1, was distributed to NASA Headquarters, the Planetary Data System, Principal Investigators, and Team Leaders.
The Jupiter Millennium Flyby website is now open and presenting assorted material for visitors desiring information on studies of Jupiter being conducted by Cassini, Galileo, the Goldstone Apple Valley Radio Telescope project, and other Earth-based observers. Additional background material will be added over the next few days, and the site will be updated as new data come in from the spacecraft. Visit http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/jupiterflyby
An open house was held at The Max-Planck-Institut fur Kernphysik in Heidelberg, Germany, home of the Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) instrument flown on-board Cassini. During the day a multimedia presentation using JPL movies of the Cassini model, Probe release, and Probe landing was displayed. The CDA Model, multimedia presentation and copies of the Cassini paper model were a big hit with the German public who are very interested in space science and space probes.
Cassini Outreach
Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
National Aeronautics and Space Administration