Cassini Weekly Significant Events for 12/13/01 – 12/19/01

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone
tracking station on Wednesday, December 19. The Cassini spacecraft is in an
excellent state of health and is operating normally. "Present Position" web
page, http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/where/ .

Recent instrument activities included two Radio and Plasma Wave Science High
Frequency Receiver calibrations. Engineering activities taking place onboard
the spacecraft this week include an Attitude Control Subsystem (ACS)
high-water mark clear and a reset of the Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA)
revolution readings.

Execution of C29 continues to proceed normally with the ongoing
Gravitational Wave Experiment, of which 23 days out of 40 days have been
completed. Spacecraft health remains excellent, maintaining a quiet
spacecraft on RWA control. Instruments remain quiet as well with MAPS data
being collected and downlinked.

In support of the C30 sequence development, the "D" revision of the
background and minisequence products were released for review.

Tour Science Planning continues to make progress, with the final science
team input port for the Satellite Orbiter Science Team (SOST) Science Uplink
Verification (SUPV) activity occurring this week. The merged products from
this port will be sent to the ACS team for spacecraft pointing analysis. The
SOST SUPV activity is the second of three SUPV activities scheduled to work
through the tour planning process and familiarize the Science Planning team
with the tools, processes, and constraints involved.

Mission Assurance issued a status report to the Office of Safety and Mission
Assurance, with the Cassini Flight Operations Status listed as "green."

Two Delivery Coordination Meetings were held in support of the Cassini
Information Management System (CIMS) 2.0 and Mission Sequence Subsystem
(MSS) D7.7 deliveries. CIMS 2.0 provides for export of the " Solid State
Recorder (SSR) Data Class" parameter to other Science Planning tools,
improved time-ordered listing formatting, and significant infrastructure
enhancements to speed processing and ease Science Planning workload. The MSS
D7.7 delivery includes the first release of the SSR Management Tool as well
as a new Main Engine Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) block for TCM 18.

Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and
the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the
California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Cassini
mission for NASA’s Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.