Coming week will see flurry of activity, experiments, ring
analysis and much more
The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is
operating normally. The most recent spacecraft telemetry was
acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday, November
10. Information on the present position and speed of the Cassini
spacecraft may be found on the "Present Position" web page located
at the FMI link below.
Recent science activities included the first Voyager-type
spatial resolution images of Tethys. The Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA)
performed E-ring measurements and a dust environment survey. Around
the middle of the week, near apoapsis, the Magnetospheric and
Plasma Science (MAPS) instruments began the first Magnetospheric
Boundaries campaign to provide high-resolution measurements in and
around Saturn's bow shock and magnetosphere over the dawn side of
the planet.
Towards the end of the week, the Ultraviolet Imaging
Spectrograph (UVIS) instrument searched for flashes from
meter-sized interplanetary impactors on the rings to constrain the
flux of the impact population to investigate ring origin and
evolution, and the Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) instrument
imaged newly discovered satellites. The Composite and Infrared
Spectrometer (CIRS) monitored the F-ring, and performed
observations to determine Saturn's atmospheric composition.
Additional on-board activities for this week included the
approval and radiation of modifications to the ACS occultation
commands for the Titan-b flyby, a RADAR calibration, and Periodic
Engineering Maintenance for the Cassini Orbiter.
The Probe Mission end-to-end test is continuing in the
Integrated Test Laboratory. The test, which started on
November 2, simulates the period from December 15, 2004, to January
16, 2005, including the Probe Targeting Maneuver, Probe Release,
Orbit Deflection Maneuver and Probe Relay and data playback. This
week, as part of the simulation, a support equipment problem caused
the Stellar Reference Unit to "lose" stars and the test bed went
through a simulated safing event following the Orbiter Deflection
Maneuver that will occur on December 27. The team recovered the
"spacecraft" and continued the test. The test will complete Friday,
November 12.
Sequence development is ongoing for tour sequences S06 through
S11, and S37 through S40. The final version of the S06 sequence was
approved this week along with a waiver requested by the Ion and
Neutral Mass Spectrometer instrument team. Uplink of files for S06
will occur November 12-14 and the sequence will begin execution on
Monday.
A Preliminary Sequence Integration and Validation waiver
disposition meeting was held as part of sequence development for
tour sequence S07. A waiver disposition meeting was held as part of
Science Operations Plan (SOP) Update of S09. One waiver was
approved and two were discussed and will be dispositioned at a
later time. All teams and offices participated in the Quarterly
NASA / Cassini review.
Cassini Outreach made the cover of the metro section in the
Louisville (KY) Courier-Journal as a result of participation at the
AAS Division of Planetary Sciences Meeting in Louisville (KY).
Outreach also presented "Reading, Writing, and Rings" at the
California Reading Association conference in San Jose (CA) and the
National Science Teachers Association Regional Conference in
Indianapolis (IN). In Indianapolis the Outreach folks gave
two Cassini workshops, and spoke with over 700 educators during the
three-day event. Around 2,700 science educators attended the
convention.
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