Cassini Significant Events 09/30/09 - 10/06/09
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired on Oct. 6 from the
Deep Space Network tracking complex at Madrid, Spain. The Cassini
spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and all subsystems are
operating normally. Information on the present position and speed of the
Cassini spacecraft may be found on the "Present Position" page
at:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm
Wednesday, Sept. 30 (DOY 273):
An encounter strategy meeting was held today to cover the period
between Oct. 12 and Nov. 7, Titan flyby T62, Enceladus flyby E7, and
maneuvers 218-220.
The final numbers for the U.S. edition of the Fall 2009 Cassini Scientist
for a Day essay contest are in:
U.S. entries: 330 essays
Number of U.S. students: 372
Number of teachers: 41
Number of U.S. states: 19 plus Puerto Rico -- including Idaho, Utah, and
Wyoming for the first time
Number of homeschooled students: 8
Most international deadlines are in late October, so in a month or so
Outreach will have a sense of how many students participated
internationally.
Thursday, Oct. 1 (DOY 274):
S54 sequence leads have cancelled the Go/No-go meeting scheduled for
Friday as part of the development process for the DOY 286 Rhea, Tethys,
Mimas, Enceladus live update. Instrument teams have agreed that vectors
for Rhea, Tethys and Enceladus need to be updated. The vector files will
be prepared by AACS, with the merged products released by Monday, Oct. 5.
Teams then have until Oct. 7 to review the products. Uplink is planned
for Friday, Oct 9.
Friday, Oct. 2 (DOY 275):
Today the Titan Orbiter Science Team hosted a Titan T62-T70 preview.
This meeting is a forum for all instrument teams to present what unique
science will be obtained for each of the flybys and what observations
will be performed.
Monday, Oct. 5 (DOY 278)
The backup inertial reference unit (IRU-B) on board Cassini was
calibrated on Oct. 4. This was the yearly checkout, with IRU-B made prime
for the duration of the calibration turns. The results indicated
continued proper performance.
The S53 sequence concluded and S54 began execution today at
2009-278T04:03:00 SCET. The sequence will run for 39 days and conclude on
November 13. During that time there will be two targeted encounters, one
of Titan, one of Enceladus, and ten non-targeted flybys Rhea on DOY
286, Methone, Atlas, Calypso, Mimas, and Tethys on DOY 287, Titan on DOY
305, Pallene, Epimetheus, and Calypso on DOY 306. Six OTMs are scheduled,
numbered 217 through 222.
Science at the top of the sequence begins with a Magnetospheric segment
that will run for almost seven days and contain some high priority
combined Magnetospheric and Plasma Science/Optical Remote Sensing auroral
observations, and a Magnetometer calibration roll on DOY 281.
Tuesday, Oct. 6 (DOY 279)
The Navigation team has completed an in-depth analysis of the
reference trajectory selected at the June Project Science Group meeting
and is issuing an update. No major design changes or tweaks have been
made - this update is primarily due to more sophisticated analyses, e.g.
mostly small adjustments to maneuver locations and updated satellite
ephemerides. Timing differences are expected to be minor.
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