December 16th 05, 08:07 PM
Cassini Significant Events=20
for 12/08/05 - 12/14/05
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired Wednesday, December
14,
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 .
Thursday, December 8 (DOY 342):
A member of the Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) instrument team visiting JPL
from the Max-Planck-Institut f=FCr Kernphysik in Heidelberg, Germany,
gave a talk today on the latest CDA science results.
The decision was made today to cancel Orbit Trim Maneuver #45 (OTM)
scheduled for Saturday, December 10. The Science Teams, Uplink
Operations
and Spacecraft Operations office had no objections to the cancellation.
A
Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA) bias will be sent in place of the
maneuver.
Although the maneuver was part of events in S16, its cancellation
affects
the first S17 live update. A live update of the Telesto vector will be
required at a minimum, and perhaps Enceladus as well.
This week the Magnetospheric and Plasma Science (MAPS) instruments
investigated boundaries on the dawn-side of the magnetosphere,
including
the bow shock, magnetopause, and associated boundary layers. In
addition,
a Phoebe spectrophotometry campaign is underway, and the RADAR team
performed a distant Titan longitude study.
Friday, December 9 (DOY 343):
At the kick off meeting for the S17 Live Inertial Vector Propagator
(IVP)
update for DOY 05-358, it was decided that the Enceladus and Telesto
vectors would be updated, and the Saturn-Cassini vector and the Titan
vector would not be updated. ACS will use the new rock ephemeris file
to
generate the updated vectors. The Go/No Go meeting scheduled for
Monday,
December 12, has been cancelled since it has already been determined
that
the update is needed.
Monday, December 12 (DOY 346):
The Aftermarket process for the S21 sequence began today. Teams were
requested to submit all proposed science and engineering changes by
last
Thursday if they were to be considered for inclusion in the update
process.
Mission Planning released an updated consumables report. The report
documents hydrazine usage, main engine cover cycles, and status of
other
on board "consumables".
The project has settled on a set of encounter altitudes for the
remaining
Titan flybys in the tour. Mission Planning released a summary of this
information to the flight team. Work is currently underway to update
the reference trajectory, incorporating the new flyby altitudes and
attempting to minimize the impact on science integration. A preliminary
trajectory has been constructed and released for evaluation. Navigation
is looking for a list of the Saturn periapsis time shifts that either
a)
make an observation no longer possible or b) require significant
re-work.
Another list that might be helpful is areas where a little tweak could
save a lot of work. Status of this effort will be reported at the
forthcoming Project Science Group meeting in January 2006.
Astronomy Magazine has released their picks for the Top 10
astronomy-related
stories of 2005. "A year at Saturn - Iapetus bulge, Titan CH4 Lake,
Enceladus tiger stripes and atmosphere" was rated number 6 of 10, and
"Huygens lands on Titan" made number 1!
Members of the Outreach and Science Planning teams met with students at
Shirley Elementary School in Reseda, CA. These students participated in
the pilot program of "Scientist for a Day."
Tuesday, December 13 (DOY 347):
A close-up image of the many craters on Rhea's icy surface is Astronomy
Picture of the Day today.
The final sequence development process for S19 kicked off today. The
sequence leads released version A of the background sequence products
along with stripped subsequence files for the teams to review.
Cassini Plasma Spectrometer, Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer,
Composite Infrared Spectrometer, Optical Navigation, and Ultraviolet
Imaging Spectrograph instrument expanded block (IEB) files for S17 were
uplinked to the spacecraft today along with an S16 ACS RWA bias. It
was
verified that all the SSR IEB loads have been properly received by the
SSR. The RWA bias is resident and will execute on 05-351. Tomorrow the
Imaging Science Subsystem IEB goes up along with the S17 background
sequence.
Wednesday, December 14 (DOY 348):
A member of the RADAR instrument team gave a presentation to the flight
team on some of the recent RADAR icy satellite scatterometry results.
The planet Saturn finally cleared the eastern horizon this month to the
delight of stargazers everywhere. From now until mid-2006, it's Saturn
time! Saturn, the Jewel of the Solar System [link to
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/products/product-prints.cfm] is
now visible low in the eastern sky after 8:00 p.m.
At 9 p.m. local time December 18, the bright waning gibbous moon
appears
close to the ringed planet. On this night Saturn can be seen as a pale
golden planet below and to the right of the moon. If you miss it,
don't worry, this celestial dance is visible every month, and you'll
see the moon near Saturn again, but earlier and higher in the sky on
January 14/15 and February 10/11.
A delivery coordination meeting was held for version 12a of the Command
Database. This version is scheduled for use with Mission Sequence
Subsystem D12 when it is delivered in May of 2006.
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 12/08/05 - 12/14/05
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired Wednesday, December
14,
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 .
Thursday, December 8 (DOY 342):
A member of the Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) instrument team visiting JPL
from the Max-Planck-Institut f=FCr Kernphysik in Heidelberg, Germany,
gave a talk today on the latest CDA science results.
The decision was made today to cancel Orbit Trim Maneuver #45 (OTM)
scheduled for Saturday, December 10. The Science Teams, Uplink
Operations
and Spacecraft Operations office had no objections to the cancellation.
A
Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA) bias will be sent in place of the
maneuver.
Although the maneuver was part of events in S16, its cancellation
affects
the first S17 live update. A live update of the Telesto vector will be
required at a minimum, and perhaps Enceladus as well.
This week the Magnetospheric and Plasma Science (MAPS) instruments
investigated boundaries on the dawn-side of the magnetosphere,
including
the bow shock, magnetopause, and associated boundary layers. In
addition,
a Phoebe spectrophotometry campaign is underway, and the RADAR team
performed a distant Titan longitude study.
Friday, December 9 (DOY 343):
At the kick off meeting for the S17 Live Inertial Vector Propagator
(IVP)
update for DOY 05-358, it was decided that the Enceladus and Telesto
vectors would be updated, and the Saturn-Cassini vector and the Titan
vector would not be updated. ACS will use the new rock ephemeris file
to
generate the updated vectors. The Go/No Go meeting scheduled for
Monday,
December 12, has been cancelled since it has already been determined
that
the update is needed.
Monday, December 12 (DOY 346):
The Aftermarket process for the S21 sequence began today. Teams were
requested to submit all proposed science and engineering changes by
last
Thursday if they were to be considered for inclusion in the update
process.
Mission Planning released an updated consumables report. The report
documents hydrazine usage, main engine cover cycles, and status of
other
on board "consumables".
The project has settled on a set of encounter altitudes for the
remaining
Titan flybys in the tour. Mission Planning released a summary of this
information to the flight team. Work is currently underway to update
the reference trajectory, incorporating the new flyby altitudes and
attempting to minimize the impact on science integration. A preliminary
trajectory has been constructed and released for evaluation. Navigation
is looking for a list of the Saturn periapsis time shifts that either
a)
make an observation no longer possible or b) require significant
re-work.
Another list that might be helpful is areas where a little tweak could
save a lot of work. Status of this effort will be reported at the
forthcoming Project Science Group meeting in January 2006.
Astronomy Magazine has released their picks for the Top 10
astronomy-related
stories of 2005. "A year at Saturn - Iapetus bulge, Titan CH4 Lake,
Enceladus tiger stripes and atmosphere" was rated number 6 of 10, and
"Huygens lands on Titan" made number 1!
Members of the Outreach and Science Planning teams met with students at
Shirley Elementary School in Reseda, CA. These students participated in
the pilot program of "Scientist for a Day."
Tuesday, December 13 (DOY 347):
A close-up image of the many craters on Rhea's icy surface is Astronomy
Picture of the Day today.
The final sequence development process for S19 kicked off today. The
sequence leads released version A of the background sequence products
along with stripped subsequence files for the teams to review.
Cassini Plasma Spectrometer, Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer,
Composite Infrared Spectrometer, Optical Navigation, and Ultraviolet
Imaging Spectrograph instrument expanded block (IEB) files for S17 were
uplinked to the spacecraft today along with an S16 ACS RWA bias. It
was
verified that all the SSR IEB loads have been properly received by the
SSR. The RWA bias is resident and will execute on 05-351. Tomorrow the
Imaging Science Subsystem IEB goes up along with the S17 background
sequence.
Wednesday, December 14 (DOY 348):
A member of the RADAR instrument team gave a presentation to the flight
team on some of the recent RADAR icy satellite scatterometry results.
The planet Saturn finally cleared the eastern horizon this month to the
delight of stargazers everywhere. From now until mid-2006, it's Saturn
time! Saturn, the Jewel of the Solar System [link to
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/products/product-prints.cfm] is
now visible low in the eastern sky after 8:00 p.m.
At 9 p.m. local time December 18, the bright waning gibbous moon
appears
close to the ringed planet. On this night Saturn can be seen as a pale
golden planet below and to the right of the moon. If you miss it,
don't worry, this celestial dance is visible every month, and you'll
see the moon near Saturn again, but earlier and higher in the sky on
January 14/15 and February 10/11.
A delivery coordination meeting was held for version 12a of the Command
Database. This version is scheduled for use with Mission Sequence
Subsystem D12 when it is delivered in May of 2006.
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.