July 8th 05, 07:26 PM
Cassini Significant Events
for 06/29/05 - 07/06/05
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired Wednesday, July 6,
from
the Goldstone 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/operations/present-position.cfm .
Activities this week:
The entire 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), continued to perform simultaneous low-rate outer
magnetospheric surveys in order to observe the variability of
magnetospheric
boundaries at several geometrically similar apoapses. In addition,
CAPS
observed the dawn-side/dusk-side magnetospheric boundaries at a variety
of
radial distances and latitudes.
Optical Remote Sensing science included Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS)
observations of many small moons for orbit determination, ISS
acquisition of
data for a variety of movies of Saturn's southern hemisphere, and
Composite
Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) infrared mappings of Saturn's upper
troposphere
and tropopause to determine its thermal properties.
Wednesday, June 29 (DOY 180)
A sub-sequence generation sequence change request approval meeting was
held
today as part of development for S14. Of the twenty-three changes
submitted, seventeen were approved, four withdrawn, one disapproved,
and one
remains pending.
A Cassini team member from University College London gave a seminar on
ground-based Cassini support with infrared observations of Saturn's
aurora.
Using high-resolution spectra, the ion winds and emission are measured,
showing the effects on the ionosphere caused by interactions between
Saturn's magnetosphere and the solar wind. These observations are used
to
place the space conditions around Cassini into a broader context.
Thursday, June 30 (DOY 181):
The Titan Atmospheric Model Working Group met today. The group is
re-thinking the Titan T-7 minimum flyby altitude. The group will
reconvene
on July 12 and finalize a recommendation to Program Management.
Uplink Operations sent commands to the spacecraft to send the Visual
and
Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instrument expanded block file
direct
to the instrument, to power cycle MAG, and to power-on CAPS.
The preliminary port for S15 occurred as part of the Science Operations
Plan
update process. The products were merged and reports published for the
team
to review. The official port is scheduled for Friday, July 8.
Cassini outreach has initiated a photo contest to celebrate the first
anniversary of Cassini-Huygens' successful Saturn orbit insertion on
June
30, 2004. The contest is open to the public and flight team members.
Voting
has now begun and will continue through 5:00 p.m. (PDT) Monday, July
11.
The most popular image will be announced on Tuesday July 12. To vote,
link
to the Cassini web site. UPDATE: As of Tuesday July 5, over 20,000
people
had cast their votes!
Friday, July 1 (DOY 182):
Last week it was reported that ISS would be switching to their new
flight
software version 1.4 sometime in early July. ISS has now elected to
defer
the permanent switch to the new software until after the Enceladus
fly-by to
minimize risk to the encounter observations.
Tuesday, July 5 (DOY 186):
All participating teams delivered detailed subsequence files as part of
sequence development for S14. The sequence leads will now take these
files
and merge them to produce a preliminary integrated sequence for the
teams to
review.
Wednesday, July 6 (DOY 187):
Members of the Navigation Team presented three trajectory options for
raising the Titan flyby T7 altitude in response to the Titan
Atmospheric
Model Working Group meeting. No decisions have been made yet as to
whether
the T7 altitude will be changed.
The S17 Aftermarket Process assessment meeting was held to review all
of the
requested changes to the sequence. It looks like all of the changes
will
fit within available resources. Unless the Target Working Teams and
Orbiter
Science Teams recommendations change over the next couple of weeks, it
is
likely that the Decision meeting scheduled in two weeks will be
canceled.
The first official Cassini archive delivery to the Planetary Data
System
(PDS) occurred on July 1. The delivery contains science data from
Launch
(1997-288) through Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI) +3 months (2004-275).
The following teams have delivered 100% of their required data:
INMS, ISS, MAG, MIMI, RADAR, RPWS, VIMS, and NAIF (Spacecraft, Planet,
Instruments, C-matrix, and Events kernels). These data are available
on-line from PDS, with the exception of RADAR data that should be
on-line
soon. The remaining teams have made partial deliveries and are making
substantial progress toward achieving 100%.
To subscribe to PDS release announcement of data, please use the
following
link.
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/subscription_service/index.cfm
To download Cassini datasets from PDS, use the following link.
http://starbrite.jpl.nasa.gov/pds/index.jsp
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.
for 06/29/05 - 07/06/05
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired Wednesday, July 6,
from
the Goldstone 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/operations/present-position.cfm .
Activities this week:
The entire 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), continued to perform simultaneous low-rate outer
magnetospheric surveys in order to observe the variability of
magnetospheric
boundaries at several geometrically similar apoapses. In addition,
CAPS
observed the dawn-side/dusk-side magnetospheric boundaries at a variety
of
radial distances and latitudes.
Optical Remote Sensing science included Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS)
observations of many small moons for orbit determination, ISS
acquisition of
data for a variety of movies of Saturn's southern hemisphere, and
Composite
Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) infrared mappings of Saturn's upper
troposphere
and tropopause to determine its thermal properties.
Wednesday, June 29 (DOY 180)
A sub-sequence generation sequence change request approval meeting was
held
today as part of development for S14. Of the twenty-three changes
submitted, seventeen were approved, four withdrawn, one disapproved,
and one
remains pending.
A Cassini team member from University College London gave a seminar on
ground-based Cassini support with infrared observations of Saturn's
aurora.
Using high-resolution spectra, the ion winds and emission are measured,
showing the effects on the ionosphere caused by interactions between
Saturn's magnetosphere and the solar wind. These observations are used
to
place the space conditions around Cassini into a broader context.
Thursday, June 30 (DOY 181):
The Titan Atmospheric Model Working Group met today. The group is
re-thinking the Titan T-7 minimum flyby altitude. The group will
reconvene
on July 12 and finalize a recommendation to Program Management.
Uplink Operations sent commands to the spacecraft to send the Visual
and
Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) instrument expanded block file
direct
to the instrument, to power cycle MAG, and to power-on CAPS.
The preliminary port for S15 occurred as part of the Science Operations
Plan
update process. The products were merged and reports published for the
team
to review. The official port is scheduled for Friday, July 8.
Cassini outreach has initiated a photo contest to celebrate the first
anniversary of Cassini-Huygens' successful Saturn orbit insertion on
June
30, 2004. The contest is open to the public and flight team members.
Voting
has now begun and will continue through 5:00 p.m. (PDT) Monday, July
11.
The most popular image will be announced on Tuesday July 12. To vote,
link
to the Cassini web site. UPDATE: As of Tuesday July 5, over 20,000
people
had cast their votes!
Friday, July 1 (DOY 182):
Last week it was reported that ISS would be switching to their new
flight
software version 1.4 sometime in early July. ISS has now elected to
defer
the permanent switch to the new software until after the Enceladus
fly-by to
minimize risk to the encounter observations.
Tuesday, July 5 (DOY 186):
All participating teams delivered detailed subsequence files as part of
sequence development for S14. The sequence leads will now take these
files
and merge them to produce a preliminary integrated sequence for the
teams to
review.
Wednesday, July 6 (DOY 187):
Members of the Navigation Team presented three trajectory options for
raising the Titan flyby T7 altitude in response to the Titan
Atmospheric
Model Working Group meeting. No decisions have been made yet as to
whether
the T7 altitude will be changed.
The S17 Aftermarket Process assessment meeting was held to review all
of the
requested changes to the sequence. It looks like all of the changes
will
fit within available resources. Unless the Target Working Teams and
Orbiter
Science Teams recommendations change over the next couple of weeks, it
is
likely that the Decision meeting scheduled in two weeks will be
canceled.
The first official Cassini archive delivery to the Planetary Data
System
(PDS) occurred on July 1. The delivery contains science data from
Launch
(1997-288) through Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI) +3 months (2004-275).
The following teams have delivered 100% of their required data:
INMS, ISS, MAG, MIMI, RADAR, RPWS, VIMS, and NAIF (Spacecraft, Planet,
Instruments, C-matrix, and Events kernels). These data are available
on-line from PDS, with the exception of RADAR data that should be
on-line
soon. The remaining teams have made partial deliveries and are making
substantial progress toward achieving 100%.
To subscribe to PDS release announcement of data, please use the
following
link.
http://pds.jpl.nasa.gov/subscription_service/index.cfm
To download Cassini datasets from PDS, use the following link.
http://starbrite.jpl.nasa.gov/pds/index.jsp
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.