Cassini Significant Events for 12/05/02 - 12/11/02 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday, December 11. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is 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 . An autonomous Solid State Recorder Memory Load Partition repair was performed on board the spacecraft this week. Additional instrument activities included execution of the Radio and Plasma Wave (RPWS) looper program #1, RPWS High Frequency Receiver calibrations, flight software normalization for Imaging Science Subsystem v1.3, Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) v9.0, and Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) v5.1 flight software loads, uplink of RPWS v2.6 and CDA v9.0.2 flight software, and the start of Gravitational Wave Experiment (GWE) #2. GWE#2 will last for 40 days, and will require continuous DSN support. The first few days of GWE #2 proceeded nominally until a power glitch at the DSS-25 station interrupted the X-band and the Ka-band transmitters. However, both transmitters were operational again within about an hour. On the third day, the Ka-Band Translator (KaT) dropped lock and went to the bad region twice during a pass. On both occasions, commands to power cycle the KaT were uplinked to the spacecraft, and by one round-trip-light-time later, the KaT had locked successfully. Since then, operations have been nominal. The Science Operations Plan implementation activity for tour sequences S15/S16 kicked off this week. These sequences cover Orbit 16 through Orbit 19. The Cruise 37 Science Planning Team development activity also kicked off this week. The process completes in February 2003. Both activities have planned a 2-week down time during the Christmas and New Years holiday period. The Instrument Operations team hosted their monthly Instrument Operations Working Group meeting. Presentations included an overview of presentation content for the October 2003 Operations Readiness Review and Virtual Private Network and Remote Terminal Interface Unit status. The topics at this week's Mission Planning forum included study results of distant occultations and close rock encounters during tour, and a proposed addition of two maneuvers during cruise. Trajectory Correction Maneuvers 19a and 19b would occur in September of 2003, and would allow the flight team an opportunity to exercise processes to be used in tour, demonstrate "first time" capabilities that will be needed during Saturn Orbit Insertion, and provide an opportunity for an additional Reaction Control Subsystem maneuver, the previous one having been performed in May of 1999. The Spacecraft Operations Office held a Flight Software/Critical Sequence Monthly Management Review. Participants were office and program management, the Attitude Control, Command and Data System, Integrated Test Lab, and Systems teams. A Delivery Coordination Meeting/Software Requirements Certification Review was held this week for VIMS flight software version 6.1. The software has been cleared for uplink to the spacecraft, and the Assisted Load Format file has been delivered from the Program Software Library to the Integrated Test Laboratory for testing and uplink preparation. The software is planned to be uplinked to the spacecraft in early January 2003. Acceptance testing for most of the Uplink Operations Mission Sequence Software version D9.0 software set has begun. Testing for the Pointing Design Tool is expected to start by the end of the month. Outreach attended the National Science Teachers Association western regional conference in Albuquerque, New Mexico December 5-7. Multiple workshops were held on building integrated science and literacy curricula, blending standards into existing curricula, and current trends in education and education reform. Many textbooks and activity packages were available for participant review. 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 --- To unsubscribe from Cassini Spacecraft Updates, send a message to leave-cassini-2357282R@list.jpl.nasa.gov --- Visit the JPL Cassini home page for more information about the Cassini Project: <http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/>
