EE Times: Latest News
Software 'hiccup' undermines trip past Saturn moon
Reuters
EE Times
(03/14/2008 9:28 AM EDT)
"NASA called the problem "an unexplained software hiccup" that came at a very bad time, preventing Cassini's Cosmic Dust Analyzer instrument from collecting data for about two hours as it flew over the surface of the moon Enceladus Wednesday.
"A key objective of the fly-by was to determine the density, size, composition and speed of particles erupting into space from the moon's south pole in a dramatic plume.
"Bob Mitchell, Cassini program manager, said the problem meant that the instrument did not collect data as the craft flew through the plume -- a process lasting under a minute.
"When it went through the plume, it was not working properly," Mitchell said in a telephone interview, expressing disappointment. "We had tested that software very carefully. We don't know why it didn't work properly."
http://www.eetimes.com/news/latest/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=206903718

Compare to what happened at Galileo's closest approach:

Newsgroups: alt.sci.physics.new-theories, alt.sci.planetary, rec.arts.sf.science, sci.astro, sci.geo.geology
From: "Robert Clark" <rcl...@op.net>
Date: 1998/11/24
Subject: Re: Galileo Update - November 23, 1998
http://groups.google.com/group/rec.arts.sf.science/msg/78afe8d08b13e50c

Bob Clark