NASA Cassini Significant Events for 11/04/04 – 11/10/04
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone
tracking station on Wednesday, November 10. The Cassini spacecraft is in an
excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the
present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on the
“Present Position” web page located at
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm .
Recent science activities included the first Voyager-type spatial resolution
images of Tethys. The Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) performed E-ring
measurements and a dust environment survey. Around the middle of the week,
near apoapsis, the Magnetospheric and Plasma Science (MAPS) instruments
began the first Magnetospheric Boundaries campaign to provide
high-resolution measurements in and around Saturn’s bow shock and
magnetosphere over the dawn side of the planet. Towards the end of the week,
the Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) instrument searched for flashes
from meter-sized interplanetary impactors on the rings to constrain the flux
of the impact population to investigate ring origin and evolution, and the
Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) instrument imaged newly discovered
satellites. The Composite and Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) monitored the
F-ring, and performed observations to determine Saturn’s atmospheric
composition.
Additional on-board activities for this week included the approval and
radiation of modifications to the ACS occultation commands for the Titan-b
flyby, a RADAR calibration, and Periodic Engineering Maintenance for the
Cassini Orbiter.
The Probe Mission end-to-end test is continuing in the Integrated Test
Laboratory. The test, which started on November 2, 2004, simulates the
period from December 15, 2004, to January 16, 2005, including the Probe
Targeting Maneuver, Probe Release, Orbit Deflection Maneuver and Probe Relay
and data playback. This week, as part of the simulation, a support
equipment problem caused the Stellar Reference Unit to “lose” stars and the
test bed went through a simulated safing event following the Orbiter
Deflection Maneuver that will occur on December 27. The team recovered the
“spacecraft” and continued the test. The test will complete Friday, November
12, 2004.
Sequence development is ongoing for tour sequences S06 through S11, and S37
through S40.
The final version of the S06 sequence was approved this week along with a
waiver requested by the Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer instrument team.
Uplink of files for S06 will occur November 12-14 and the sequence will
begin execution on Monday November 15.
A Preliminary Sequence Integration and Validation waiver disposition meeting
was held as part of sequence development for tour sequence S07.
A waiver disposition meeting was held as part of Science Operations Plan
(SOP) Update of S09. One waiver was approved and two were discussed and
will be dispositioned at a later time.
All teams and offices participated in the Quarterly NASA / Cassini review.
Cassini Outreach made the cover of the metro section in the Louisville,
Kentucky Courier-Journal as a result of participation at the AAS Division of
Planetary Sciences Meeting in Louisville, KY. Outreach also presented
“Reading, Writing, and Rings” at the California Reading Association
conference in San Jose, CA, and the National Science Teachers Association
Regional Conference in Indianapolis, IN. In Indianapolis the Outreach folks
gave two Cassini workshops, and spoke with over 700 educators during the
3-day event. Around 2,700 science educators attended the convention.
Numerous additional articles and news releases relating to Cassini, the
Huygens Probe, and Saturn were published this week. For some of what can be
found, check out the web sites for the European Space Agency, University of
Colorado, UA News Service, the Particle Physics and Astronomy Research
Council Swindon, U.K., New Scientist, and Sky & Telescope.
The Cassini-Huygens mission 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, manages the
Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Washington,
D.C. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter.