Cassini Significant Event Report
For Week Ending 09/19/03
JPL/NASA
Cassini will begin orbiting Saturn on July 1, 2004, and release its piggybacked Huygens probe about six months later for descent through the thick atmosphere of the moon Titan.
This graphic illustrates the arrival of the Cassini spacecraft at Saturn and the initial orbit about Saturn. Upon entering the Saturn system, the Cassini spacecraft performs a 1.5 hour orbit insertion burn on July 1, 2004. This maneuver slows the spacecraft sufficiently to enter orbit about Saturn and defines the start of the four year orbital mission.
The initial orbit is the largest and longest orbit in the orbital tour. A large periapsis raise maneuver is performed a couple of months later to move the closest approach point at Saturn beyond Saturn's inner rings and also to establish the geometry required for probe entry at the first Titan flyby 2.5 months later.
The Huygens probe is separated from the Cassini spacecraft about 3 weeks before descending through the Titan atmosphere on November 27. An orbiter deflection maneuver is performed shortly after probe release to prevent the orbiter from following the probe into Titan's atmosphere, and to place it in the best geometry to receive the probe's radio transmissions.
Image Credit: JPL-27089AC
JPL/NASA
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Madrid tracking station on Wednesday, September 17. 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.
On-board activities this week included uplink of a Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument flight software mini sequence and flight software checkout, a Radio Science Subsystem (RSS) Ultrastable Oscillator test, RSS Periodic Instrument Maintenance, boresight calibration, pattern calibration, and quiet test, and a probe checkout.
(More: Saturn.JPL.NASA.gov/)
2003 © JPL/NASA.
<sarcasm>Time to blow up Saturn,</sarcasm>
Dan
Space/Science » in reply to re: It's over; let's think about the next missions out there
re: Cassini-Huygen . . .