Cassini Update - October 21, 2005

Cassini Significant Events
for 10/13/05 - 10/19/05

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired Wednesday, October
19,
from the Madrid tracking stations. 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 .

The Composite Infrared Spectrometer began a weeklong flight software
checkout on Friday, October 14. Status as of Wednesday is that all is
progressing well.

All participating teams delivered the necessary files for the S18
sequence
official input port for the Science Operations Plan update process.

An encounter strategy meeting was held for the Titan 8 through Rhea 1
flybys. This meeting covers the period from October 28 through
November 26,
and Orbit Trim maneuvers 41-43.

Team members from the Spacecraft Operations Office presented Titan
atmosphere tumbling densities for Titan 16-23 at the Mission Planning
forum
this week. This is phase A of a two-part discussion on what densities
are
safe for close Titan flybys. Part two, covering T24-T45, will be
presented
on November 15.

An image advisory of Dione set against the stunning backdrop of Saturn
was
released this week. Like most of its counterparts in the Saturnian
system,
Dione shows a heavily cratered surface. It has a signature style all
its own
that includes streaky terrains dominating one whole side of the moon.
To
view the text of the release and associated images and movie go to
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

Cassini Outreach presented an evening of star and moon gazing at the
October
13 Wild Rose Elementary School PTA picnic in Monrovia, CA. Over 300
participants enjoyed a picnic and American Indian storytelling before
heading out to the telescopes for views of the nearly full moon, Venus
and
the bright stars overhead.

Satarn Breathnu Feachtas Offig Na Eireann, or, the Saturn Observation
Campaign Irish Office recently gave a talk about the Cassini flybys of
Enceladus at the annual astronomy Whirlpool Star party at Birr Castle,
Ireland. In addition to material gleaned from the monthly Cassini
Project
Science Office CHARM Presentations and Enceladus image captions, this
active
volunteer also made a realistic model of Enceladus starting with a
soccer
ball, paint, clay and a lot of inspiration from the Cassini images of
the
icy world Enceladus.

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.