Cassini Weekly Significant Events for 04/26/01 - 05/02/01

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday May 2. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the spacecraft's position and speed can be viewed on the "Present Position" web page at (http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/english/where/).

This week marked the end of the Jupiter Science subphase and the beginning of the Quiet Cruise subphase, which will continue to the end of C32 in July 2002.

Recent spacecraft activities included the uplink and start of the C26 sequence, automatic repair of the Solid State Recorders (SSRs), two Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) High Frequency Receiver (HFR) calibrations, a high water mark clear, and a Reaction Wheel Assembly unload. Instrument Expandable Blocks for Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS), Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS), Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS), and RPWS were uploaded to the spacecraft, and a test of the RPWS trigger was performed. Additional instrument activities include power-on of the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) followed by a boresight alignment, and a pattern calibration of the High Gain Antenna (HGA).

Personnel from System Engineering (SE), Instrument Operations (IO), Spacecraft Office (SCO), Uplink Operations (ULO), Mission Support & Services Office (MSSO), and Deep Space Mission System (DSMS) supported an RSS System Assessment Meeting in preparation for the Gravitational Wave Experiment (GWE) system test. The GWE system test began later in the week, starting with transmission of two commands to cycle the Ka-band Translator (KaT) power. The GWE system test will continue into next week, and is intended to begin characterization of the newly-built Radio Science instrument and to produce real data products for the GWE investigators that will allow them to create and refine their analysis processes.

Operations training sessions in support of Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) personnel from the Max Planck Institut fur Kernphysik, Heidelberg, Germany, and other Project personnel concluded this week with presentations by various Cassini Teams. Presentations included a Spacecraft, Planet, Instruments, C-matrix, and Events kernels (SPICE) tutorial by the Cassini SPICE Development Team and a demonstration and hands-on session with the Science Opportunity Analyzer tool being developed by Telecommunications and Mission Operations Directorate (TMOD).

The ground system development team held a review of development schedules to ensure understanding of priorities and drivers and alignment of schedule dates for GWE, Space Science, Approach Science and Tour.

The Mission Planning team reviewed the high-level timeline of events for late cruise and early Tour in the Mission Planning Forum, with specific attention on events required for readiness for Saturn Orbit Insertion (SOI), Probe Relay, and the Titan-3 flyby. Additionally, Mission Planning personnel completed element-specific reviews of Mission Plan Guidelines & Constraints and presented Mission Planning Roles & Responsibilities at the Cassini Design Team meeting in a "Question & Answer" format.

Cassini 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, Calif., manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

Cassini Outreach
Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
California Institute of Technology
National Aeronautics and Space Administration