Cassini Update - January 28, 2005

Cassini Significant Events
for 01/20/05 - 01/26/05

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired today from the
Goldstone
tracking station. 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/operation...t-position.cfm .

Let's take a look at what Cassini will be doing for science this week.
Looks like the Magnetospheric and Plasma Science (MAPS) instruments -
Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS), Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer
(INMS), Magnetometer Subsystem (MAG), Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument
(MIMI) and Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) instrument - will be
continuing the magnetospheric boundary campaign. They will be looking
at
boundaries on the dawn flank of the magnetosphere, including the
bowshock,
magnetopause and associated boundary layers. These instruments will
also be
monitoring the solar wind when outside the magnetosphere.

The Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) will conduct a survey of
hydrogen in the interplanetary medium and the Cosmic Dust Analyzer
(CDA)
will monitor dust streams in or coming from Saturn's magnetosphere.

The sequence team leads finished uplinking the S08 background sequence
today.

The Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) team at JPL began
reconstructing meta-data for the earliest Cruise data to support
reprocessing to make a better set of cubes for final archiving. A
design is
now in place for capturing this meta-data and migrating it into the
cube
labels.

Friday, January 21:

There were no special events today. What this really means is that the
instruments are taking data, the Navigation team is obtaining daily
Optical
Navigation images, and we have about one DSN pass a day where we
downlink
the data. For this week these activities are happening every day. For
the
rest of the report, if you see that I have skipped a day, you can
assume
that there were no "additional events" to add to this list.

Oops. Missed one. A major Huygens press conference concerning science
results was held today in Germany. I received some highlights to share
that
were adapted from a Huygens press release. Check out their website for
more
details.

Analysis of the Huygens science data continues. Spectacular images
captured
by the Descent Imager and Spectral Radiometer (DISR) reveal that Titan
has
extraordinarily Earth-like meteorology and geology. DISR has revealed
geological evidence for precipitation, erosion, mechanical abrasion and
other fluvial activity that says that the physical processes shaping
Titan
are much the same as those shaping Earth.

Heat generated by Huygens at the landing site warmed the soil beneath
the
probe and both the Gas Chromatograph Mass Spectrometer (GCMS) and the
Surface Science Package (SSP) detected bursts of methane gas boiled out
of
surface material, reinforcing methane's principal role in Titan's
geology
and atmospheric meteorology -- forming clouds and precipitation that
erodes
and abrades the surface.

Saturday, January 22:

Today marked the official end of tour sequence S07 and the start of
execution of S08. One of the first on-board events was for all the
instruments to load their expanded block files and prepare of science
acquisition. All went as planned.

Monday, January 24:

Now this is how you start a Monday! A DISR image of riverbeds and
lakebeds
on Titan is today's Astronomy Picture of the Day.

The Radio Science Subsystem (RSS) performed an end-to-end test today as
well
as an IVD test. They will be releasing their report in about a week.
Look
for more details then.

The Program is bearing down on the end of Science Operations Plan (SOP)
Implementation for the tour sequences. There are only 41 sequences in
the
prime mission. Today the second and final official port was met for
S39 and
S40. The wrap up meeting for this process will be held on February 9.
By
that time, the process for S41 will be nearing its end as well.

Tuesday, January 25:

Here's something interesting, a science fiction writing competition:
From
Earth to Planet X.

For more information and details go to the ESA website at:
http://www.esa.int/esaCP/SEMSCEO3E4E_index_0.html

Now that the world has seen the first images of Saturn's moon Titan,
here is
a chance for young people to imagine voyages to other planets. EURISY,
in
cooperation with UNESCO and the Norwegian Centre for Space-related
Education, is holding a competition for young sci-fi writers. The
author of
the best story in each age group will win a digital camera and there
will
also be prizes for whoever comes 2nd and 3rd. From Earth to Planet X
is the
theme. Using this as their base, budding authors are asked to imagine
and
write a story describing progress, developments and discoveries related
to
science and life in outer space.

Wednesday, January 26:

Preliminary Port#2 for SOP Implementation of S41 occurred today. The
team
files are in the process of being merged. Official port#2 is scheduled
for
February 2. The wrap-up meeting is scheduled for February 16. At that
time
all initial versions of the tour sequences will be archived and will be
waiting final processing closer to their scheduled execution dates.
Remember, Cassini's primary tour goes out to 2008!

Science Planning hosted a Project Briefing today for S10. The briefing
included presentations of the special events in this sequences as well
as
items that are being left open that need to be addressed when the
products
are passed on to the Uplink Operations Team. The next and final phase
in
processing for this sequence begins on January 28.

Wrap up:

That's it for this week. The most recent spacecraft telemetry was
acquired
today from the Goldstone tracking station. The Cassini spacecraft is
in an
excellent state of health and all subsystems are operating normally.
Don't
forget to check out the Cassini web site http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov for
the
latest press releases and images.

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.

Please ask Cassini to have a quick look at the Legrange Point
which is hidden from earth behind the sun, and see if planet X
is there :-)
(Apology if it has already been done)

Jim G
c'=c+v

In message .com,
writes

Please ask Cassini to have a quick look at the Legrange Point
which is hidden from earth behind the sun, and see if planet X
is there :-)
(Apology if it has already been done)

Jim G
c'=c+v


In all seriousness, I'd love to see an image of the Anti-Earth point,
and I said as much about 10 years ago!
http://groups.google.co.uk/groups?q=...atar+%22Jonath
an+silverlight%22&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=95%40portugal.win-uk.net&rnum=1
.

We won't find a planet, but there just might be something hiding there
(idea stolen from Poul Anderson's novel "The Avatar")
--
Support the DEC Tsunami Appeal http://www.dec.org.uk/.
Remove spam and invalid from address to reply.

Nothing is at the "anti-Earth" point, or as I prefer to call it the
"mirror-Earth" point. The problem is that the orbit is not quite
circular, so the objects will get out of line with the Sun as their
speeds vary. That destroys the system because of the instability of the
Lagrange [sic] point.

Look instead at the "trojan" points in our orbit, 60 degrees removed
from Earth. I believe one of them harbors an asteroid.

--OL

In article , Oscar
Lanzi III wrote:
Look instead at the "trojan" points in our orbit, 60 degrees removed
from Earth. I believe one of them harbors an asteroid.

Got a reference for that?
A couple of years ago I read a paper from a Canadian astronomer
(being deliberately vague here) that their search of the Trojan points
hadn't found anything above a quite small size. I think they were
making a pitch for more telescope time/ bigger telescope time, so
things may well have moved on.

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: 57°10'11" N, 02°08'43" W (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233

In message lid, Aidan
Karley writes
In article , Oscar
Lanzi III wrote:
Look instead at the "trojan" points in our orbit, 60 degrees removed
from Earth. I believe one of them harbors an asteroid.

Got a reference for that?

Does Cruithne count? It's in a "horseshoe orbit". ISTR there's another
similar object, but I can't find a reference.

"Jonathan Silverlight" wrote
in message ...
In message lid, Aidan
Karley writes
In article , Oscar
Lanzi III wrote:
Look instead at the "trojan" points in our orbit, 60 degrees removed
from Earth. I believe one of them harbors an asteroid.

Got a reference for that?

Does Cruithne count? It's in a "horseshoe orbit". ISTR there's another
similar object, but I can't find a reference.

http://www.astro.uwo.ca/~wiegert/AA29/AA29.html

George

Yup, it's Cruithne. I misread what the article was saying.

--OL

In article , Jonathan Silverlight
wrote:
Does Cruithne count? It's in a "horseshoe orbit".

Which is not a "trojan". Interesting as Cruithne is (and it is
interesting), it's not now, never has been, and TTBOMK never will be, a
Trojan.

--
Aidan Karley,
Aberdeen, Scotland,
Location: 57°10'11" N, 02°08'43" W (sub-tropical Aberdeen), 0.021233