Cassini Update - March 14, 2008
- From: baalke@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 18 Mar 2008 17:52:24 -0700 (PDT)
Cassini Significant Events
for 03/05/08 - 03/11/08
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired on Tuesday, March
11, from
the Canberra, Australia tracking complex. The Cassini spacecraft is in
an
excellent state of health and all subsystems are 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.
Wednesday, March 5 (DOY 065):
The annual Attitude and Articulation Control Subsystem (AACS) Inertial
Reference Unit or "gyro" calibration was successfully completed on
board the
spacecraft today.
After the calibration, the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS)
targeted
Hyperion as part of a deep space calibration effort before undertaking
a
stray light calibration exercise. After the calibration, CIRS
performed an
11-hour far-infrared mapping of Saturn in the north to south direction
before turning to Earth for the downlink.
Today Cassini participated in a joint Emergency Command Center (ECC)
exercise with the Spitzer Project at the Goldstone Deep Space
Communication
Complex. The purpose of the exercise was to verify the ability of
that
complex to support commanding to multiple spacecraft in the event of
an
emergency. These exercises are held on a periodic basis to confirm
that the
capability is still functional.
A new interactive flash about Enceladus joins the previous Titan flash
on
the Cassini web site. Go to the following link and click on Enceladus
Virtual Tour in the upper right corner.
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/moons/moonDetails.cfm?pageID=5
Titan flash: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/science/index.cfm?PageID=91
Thursday, March 6 (DOY 066):
Cassini has found evidence of material orbiting Rhea, Saturn's second
largest moon. This is the first time rings may have been found around
a
moon. A broad debris disk and at least one ring appear to have been
detected by a suite of six instruments specifically designed to study
the
atmospheres and particles around Saturn and its moons. For the full
release
link to:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=820
Commands to support a dual playback strategy for science data acquired
during the Enceladus flyby on DOY-072 were uplinked today.
Friday, March 7 (DOY 067):
Orbit Trim Maneuver (OTM) #147 was performed today. This is the
apoapsis
maneuver setting up for the Enceladus 3 encounter on Mar. 12. The
main
engine burn began at 12:30 AM PST. Telemetry immediately after the
maneuver
showed the burn duration was 6.80 seconds, giving a delta-V of 1.11 m/
s, as
planned. All subsystems reported nominal performance after the
maneuver.
Saturday, March 8 (DOY-068)
Real time commands were sent to the spacecraft today in support of
science
observations during the Enceladus flyby. The Cosmic Dust Analyzer
(CDA)
switched to version 12 instrument flight software, and in order for
RADAR to
perform its scatterometry observations, two trigger commands based on
the
most recent orbit determination information were uplinked.
Monday, March 10 (DOY 070):
A non-targeted flyby of Titan occurred today.
At the final Navigation Review meeting today, the data was reviewed
and it
was determined that excellent accuracy had been achieved with
OTM-147. We
are on target. OTM-148, scheduled as the final targeting maneuver on
approach to Enceladus, was therefore cancelled and replaced by a
reaction
wheel bias real-time command. Science Planning verified that science
observations would not be impacted by the cancellation. Cancellation
also
eliminates a perturbation to the trajectory, which will improve the OD
input
to the OTM-149 design and reconstruction of the E3 flyby.
Tuesday, March 11 (DOY 071):
JPL Media Relations has coordinated an active blog covering the
Enceladus 3
flyby. This flyby, under RWA control at 50 km altitude, will occur
March
12. This is the closest flyby by Cassini of any body to date, and
also the
deepest penetration of the Enceladus plume to date. The blog allows
the
general public to post comments and follow along as the flyby
unfolds. For
access link to:
http://blogs.nasa.gov/cm/blogsiteviewer?blogname=Enceladus%20Flyby&month=3-2
008
For additional links before the flyby tomorrow try the following:
Mission Description:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/products/pdfs/20080312_enceladus_missi
on_description.pdf
Video:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/videos/video-details.cfm?videoID=171
An Enceladus flyby page:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/events/titan20080312/index.cfm
News Release:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press-release-details.cfm?newsID=822
And any of the links of the home page:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm
The main engine cover will be closed today after the scheduled OTM-148
backup pass for dust hazard avoidance right before the Enceladus 3
flyby.
It will be reopened Mar. 13 before the OTM-149 prime pass.
The second delivery port for the S42 Science Operations Plan process
occurred 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.
.
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