Cassini Significant Events for 09/23/04 - 09/29/04

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The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Madrid tracking
station on Wednesday, September 29. 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 .

On-board activities this week included the continuation of Ultraviolet
Imaging Spectrograph (UVIS) mosaics of Saturn's magnetosphere and solar wind
measurements by the Magnetospheric and Plasma Science instruments.
Cassini's Optical Navigation team took images twice a day to help refine
Cassini's trajectory and improve knowledge of the satellites' orbits.  The
Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) also obtained Saturn mosaics and recorded
long-duration ring spoke movies.

On Friday of last week, a Software Requirements and Certification Review was
held for version A8.7.1 of the Attitude Control Subsystem (ACS) flight
software (FSW).  After passing the review, the software was uplinked on
Monday and Tuesday of this week by Spacecraft Operations Office Command and
Data Subsystem engineers. Version A8.7.1 now resides on both solid-state
recorders and non-default partitions 2 and 3.  This and other activities are
in preparation for the ACS Flight Computer (AFC) reload and checkout that
will begin Saturday, October 2.  Over this next weekend ACS engineers will
reset the prime AFC and load the FSW.  A limited checkout will then be
performed to verify the implementation of the Probe Release sequence
followed by a memory readout that will be used for the Titan A flyby later
in October.

An ACS end-to-end pointing analysis of the products from official port#1 was
delivered this week as part of the Science Operations Plan (SOP)
Implementation process for tour sequences S37/S38.  Teams are reviewing the
report and adjusting input where necessary.  In last week's Significant
Event Report it was mistakenly reported that the process for S37/S38 had
wrapped.  S35/S36 held a wrap up meeting last week.  Those products have now
been archived and will be dusted off in July of 2007 when the Aftermarket
process begins.

A Project Briefing and Waiver Disposition meeting was held as part of the
SOP update process for S07.  The handoff product for the following
development process is being prepared.

The S09 SOP Update process began this week.  This development process is 10
weeks long, twice as long as a normal SOP Update process.  This sequence was
one of the first four to go through SOP implementation back in May of 2002.
Due to modifications in SOP implementation since then, S09-S12 require
additional effort to produce the required input for the Science and Sequence
Update Process (SSUP), the final step in sequence development before it is
uplinked to the spacecraft.

As part of the SSUP process, Preliminary Sequence Integration and Validation
Cycle 2 merged products were delivered for S05, merged Sub-Sequence
Generation products were released for S06, and a Space Flight Operations
Schedule was generated in preparation for the kick-off meeting for S07.

In the last week, 1205 ISS images were received along with 74 Visual and
Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) cubes. Since Approach Science began in
January of this year, 24525 ISS images and 5410 VIMS cubes have been
returned.

A delivery coordination meeting was held last week for version 2 of the
Cassini Archive Tracking Tool.  The Cassini Archive Tracking System is a web
application tool that tracks required archive submissions into the Planetary
Data System (PDS).  It allows the project and PDS to accurately and
efficiently report on archive submission status.  It facilitates
communication between teams, projects, and PDS. Version 1 was delivered in
April of this year.

Cassini Outreach and Saturn Observation Campaign (SOC) members showed the
lunar crater Cassini and Mount Huygens - both on the moon - to 117 members
of the public at Monrovia Library Park, near Pasadena's Jet propulsion Labor
atory this week. Cassini bookmarks, and NASA lunar lithographs and trading
cards were passed out to all who stopped by. Several local teachers
requested school visits including one high school teacher who teaches
science writing to 11th and 12th graders. Saturn will not be visible in the
early evening for public viewing until January 2005, when SOC members will
be out in force showing the ringed planet and Titan to their communities.
To find your nearest of the 362 SOC members, visit the website:
http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/members.cfm

Cassini-Huygens made a guest appearance on the television show "Jack &
Bobby" on Sunday September 26th. A spacecraft model, computer animation, and
posters were used as set pieces and information on the Huygens mission as
well as Cassini's journey to Saturn was included in the script. Jack & Bobby
airs on the WB network on Sunday evenings.

For the most recent Cassini information, press releases, and images, go to
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

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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