Cassini Significant Events for 03/23/06 - 03/29/06 The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired Wednesday, March 29, from the Goldstone tracking stations. 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 . Thursday, March 23 (DOY 082) Science observations this week included the Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) obtaining temperature maps of Saturn's northern hemisphere, a continuation of the Cassini Plasma Spectrometer search for Saturnian dust stream particles, Ion and Neutral Mass Spectrometer scans for dense particle regions and icy satellite high phase observations, an Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) Iapetus observation campaign that images the dark leading hemisphere and south polar area, and a Magnetospheric and Plasma Science (MAPS) distant magnetotail campaign. This is the first of such campaigns in the mission. The region between 25 and 68 Rs is being investigating at phase angles of 162-130 degrees. Saturday, March 25 (DOY 084): In the Village Kohivav, Vadodara district of Gujarat, India, 70 students and 15 Saturn Observation club members observed Saturn and made sketches of the ringed planet. Monday, March 27 (DOY 086): Both the kickoff, and as it turns out, the go/no go meeting for the Iapetus Live Inertial Vector Propagator Update occurred today. While the update was not necessary for ISS, the CIRS observations would have been clipped without it. Commands for this activity will be approved and uplinked to the spacecraft on Friday. The Science Operations Plan Update process for S22 kicked off today. The process will run for five weeks and will conclude on April 28. Tuesday, March 28 (DOY 087): The Uplink Readiness Review for ACS flight software (FSW) version A8.7.4 was held today. The Software Requirements and Certification Review is set for March 31, with uplink planned to occur on April 10 - 13, along with the Monopropellant Tank Assembly recharge activity. ACS will upload the FSW patch to bring the default thruster magnitudes in line with the expected values. The B branch will be updated before the recharge, and the A and redundantly B branches will be updated afterwards. The Spacecraft Operations Office Manager presented "The Cassini Spacecraft Tutorial" at the Cassini-Huygens Analysis and Results of the Mission teleconference today. Wednesday, March 29 (DOY 088): A Delivery Coordination Meeting was held for Multi Mission Image Processing Laboratory (MIPL) Cassini version D35.0.2 software, and Cassini Information Management System (CIMS) version 3.3 software. For the MIPL software, test results for upgrades for both uplink and downlink modifications were presented. The changes were approved to go operational and will be used for uplink for S21, and on April 17 for downlink. The CIMS software was also approved and was installed for operational use right after the meeting. A new release has been posted to the Cassini public website on the finding of moonlet evidence in the rings of Saturn. There may be as many as 10 million of these objects within one of Saturn's rings alone. The moonlets' existence could help answer the question of whether Saturn's rings were formed through the break-up of a larger body or are the remnants of the disk of material from which Saturn and its moons formed. For more information go to http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov. Wrap up: Check out the Cassini web site at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov for the latest press releases and images. Upcoming Events: Free public star parties at Griffith Observatory in Los Angeles, CA, are held monthly with the assistance of the Los Angeles Astronomical Society and the Los Angeles Sidewalk Astronomers at the Griffith Observatory Satellite in the northeast corner of Griffith Park from 2:00 p.m. to 10 p.m. They provide a chance for the whole family to look at the sun, moon, visible planets, including Saturn right now, and other objects, to try out a variety of telescopes, and to talk to knowledgeable amateur astronomers about the sky and their equipment. Future dates when Saturn will be visible are April 1, May 6, and June 3. Do you want to know where Saturn viewing might be happening in your area? We have over 350 members of the Saturn Observation Campaign in 45 states and 49 countries around the world. Contact one of the SOC members in your state to ask when and where you can see Saturn. http://soc.jpl.nasa.gov/members.cfm 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. --- To unsubscribe from Cassini Spacecraft Updates, send a message to leave-cassini-@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx --- Visit the JPL Cassini home page for more information about the Cassini Project: <http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/>
