Cassini is orbiting Saturn with a 31.9-day period in a plane
inclined 44.3 degrees from the planet's equatorial plane. The most
recent spacecraft tracking and telemetry data were obtained on June 10
using the 70-meter diameter Deep Space Network station at Canberra,
Australia. Except for the science instrument issues described in
previous reports (for more information search the Cassini website for
"CAPS" and "USO"), the spacecraft continues to be
in an excellent state of health with all of its subsystems operating
normally.
Information on the present position of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on http://1.usa.gov/1mk63HQ .
Information on the present position of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on http://1.usa.gov/1mk63HQ .
Cassini continued conducting observations of Saturn's northern
auroral region as part of the campaign that began on May 19. The only
interruptions to this high-priority task during the week were half a
dozen Deep Space Network (DSN) communications sessions, and three
relatively short Titan monitoring observations.
Wednesday, June 4 (DOY 155)
The day started off with a DSN station in California carrying out nine hours of two-way digital communications and radiometric tracking with Cassini. During the pass, the flight team uplinked commands to turn off the no-longer-necessary Pressurant Control Assembly panel and line heaters. This action will make another nine watts of electrical power available to the engineering subsystems and science instruments.
At the end of the DSN pass, Cassini turned away to point the
Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) telescopes at Titan for a 1.5 hour
monitoring observation from a distance of about three million
kilometers. The Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) and the Visible
and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) took data while "riding
along" with ISS. Next, the spacecraft turned the Ultraviolet
Imaging Spectrograph's (UVIS) telescope back to Saturn's northern
auroral region for an observation lasting just over 42 hours while
CIRS and VIMS rode along. These long observations repeated three more
times during the rest of the week with start times on Saturday,
Sunday, and Tuesday, though with slightly varying durations.
Friday, June 6 (DOY 157)
ISS took control of spacecraft pointing to monitor Titan again
for 1.5 hours, now at a distance of two million kilometers. CIRS and
VIMS participated. This observation repeated on Sunday when Titan was
about 400,000 kilometers closer.
Sunday, June 8 (DOY 159)
During the DSN pass over Canberra Australia today, the Cassini
Radio Science team led an operations readiness test in preparation for
the complicated experiments planned for the next Titan encounter,
T-102 on June 18. One of the 34-meter diameter stations participated
today; the exercise was repeated on Tuesday using the 70-meter station
there.
Monday, June 9 (DOY 160)
An image featured today shows how Saturn's small oblong moon Prometheus interacts with the thin F Ring:
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/photos/imagedetails/index.cfm?imageId=5034 .
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