Cassini Update - May 20, 2005

Cassini Significant Events
for 05/12/05 - 05/18/05

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired Wednesday 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 .

Activities this week:

On-board science activities this week for the Optical Remote Sensing
(ORS)
instruments include Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) mosaics of
Saturn's inner magnetosphere, an Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) ansa
movie
of the Encke division and a medium resolution color scan of the rings
performed jointly by ISS, the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS)
and
Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS).

The suite of Magnetospheric and Plasma Science (MAPS) instruments,
which
include the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS), Cosmic Dust Analyzer
(CDA),
Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer (INMS), Magnetometer Subsystem (MAG),
Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument (MIMI) and Radio and Plasma Wave
Science
(RPWS), will simultaneously perform low-rate magnetospheric surveys.

Thursday, May 12 (DOY 132):

Today a combined Cassini Design Team meeting and Instrument Operations
Working Group was held so that topics of interest to both groups could
be
presented at one time. On the agenda was a demonstration of a Cassini
adaptation of a new configuration management system. The second item
was
presented by Mission Planning and addressed the ongoing development of
the
maneuver cancellation process.

Friday, May 13 (DOY 133):

Spacecraft Operations Office (SCO) personnel held a flight software
(FSW)
uplink procedure walk-through in preparation for sending the CAPS, CDA,
and
ISS FSW up to the spacecraft. Uplinks are scheduled to begin next
week.

Navigation released the orbit determination (OD) solution today for the
DOY
140-143 Live Inertial Vector Propagator (IVP) update and DOY 141 Live
Moveable Block. The live update process for both changes was started.
Teams will spend the weekend analyzing the OD in preparation for a
Go/No Go
meeting to be held Monday.

Today the S10 Sequence Leads officially handed the keys of the
spacecraft
over to the S11 leads. S11 runs for 35 days from 2005-134T02:50:00 to
2005-169T01:34:00, May 14 through June 18. There are no Orbit Trim
Maneuvers or targeted encounters during this sequence, but there are
two
non-targeted flybys, one each of Enceladus and Titan. The Radio
Science
Subsystem (RSS) will continue their occultation campaign with VIMS and
UVIS
also performing occultation experiments.

Saturday, May 14 (DOY 134):

Thirty Cassini Program staff volunteered for JPL's annual open house
held
this weekend May 14-15. Cassini displays included a 1/10-scale model
of the
Cassini spacecraft and beautiful images taken by the instruments aboard
Cassini. In addition, a series of four display banners depicting
Saturn's
moons, spectacular rings, Titan, and Saturn were debuted along with an
updated version of the Ring World DVD. The DVD was shown 22 times over
the
weekend and over 20,000 Cassini Mission bookmarks were distributed.
Additional Cassini members volunteered in other display areas and
handed out
maps, answered questions and greeted our guests both days.

Cassini Outreach and local Saturn Observation Campaign members held two
local viewing events May 13 and 14. Over 650 excited viewers saw the
planet
Saturn with its beautiful rings and the Cassini division plus five of
the
eight visible moons, including Titan and Iapetus. During the Saturday
event,
in a local city park, three additional people brought their own
telescopes
to share with the public.

Sunday, May 15 (DOY 135):

RSS conducted Operations Readiness tests on both Saturday and Sunday.
These
tests are performed on a regular basis prior to each of the occultation
events between now and September. The second of eight occultation
observations occurs on May 21.

Monday, May 16 (DOY 136):

Science Planning kicked off the Science Operations Plan Update Process
for
S14 today.

The go was given at today's Go/No Go Live Update meeting. The
necessary
files will be generated, and uplinked to the spacecraft on Wednesday.
The
Live IVP update will begin execution on Thursday May 19, and the Live
Movable Block will execute on Saturday the 21st.

A Titan Atmospheric Working Group meeting was held today.

ISS performed a test in the Integrated Test Laboratory of cold start
procedures and of camera readout timing. Analysis of the test will
begin as
soon as the data is received from the lab.

Tuesday, May 17 (DOY 137):

Spacecraft Operations Office (SCO) personnel held a flight software
(FSW)
uplink procedure walk-through in preparation for sending the ACS
version
8.7.2 FSW up to the spacecraft. Uplink will occur on May 26.

The S13 Science and Sequence Update Process kickoff meeting was held
today.
Stripped sequence files were sent out to the team members for review,
and
the first cut at the Sub-Sequence Generation products was produced.

Wednesday, May 18 (DOY 138):

Today the Rings Target Working Team hosted a Rings Science Highlight
Meeting. This was an open meeting for Cassini-Huygens Project
personnel, and
anyone interested in a preview of rings science objectives and
activities.
The meeting encompassed an overview of all the rings science that has
been
planned for the first set of inclined orbits (revs 6 thru 14). The
meeting
was presented via teleconference with presentations made from all
around the
US.

A Huygens-eye view of Titan's surface is Astronomy Picture of the Day
today.

Wrap up:

Check out the Cassini web site at 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.