Significant Event Report for Week Ending 10/18/2002

Cassini Significant Event Report

For Week Ending 10/18/02

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Wednesday, October 16. The Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on the spacecraft's position and speed can be viewed on the "Present Position" web page.

Activities on board the spacecraft included clearing of the high water marks, and an autonomous Solid State Recorder memory load partition repair. Instrument activities included uplink and execution of a mini-sequence for
a Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) Instrument Expanded Block load and flight software checkout, Radio and Plasma Wave Science (RPWS) High Frequency Receiver Calibrations, a Cassini Plasma Spectrometer plasma environment observation, Composite InfraRed Spectrometer (CIRS), VIMS and Imaging Science Subsystem (ISS) observations of alpha bootes, and an Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph Hydrogen Deteurium Absorption Cell LISM.

Cruise sequences C42, C43, and C44 are part of Cassini's Approach Science subphase and are the last cruise
sequences prior to tour. The topic at this week's Mission Planning Forum was a discussion of the constraints on
approach science as we understand them, all known required activities, and how to go about planning for them.

All teams and offices participated in the October Monthly Management Review.

With requirements supplied by Uplink Operations (ULO), the Mission Support and Services Office (MSSO) implemented an ivd_get (Inertial Vector Definition) script for retrieving the correct files for the ivd target option in the Inertial Vector Propagator tool and Pointing Design Tool. The script has been delivered to operations, and ULO gave high praise for the excellent work done on the script by MSSO.

This week marked the 5th Anniversary of the Cassini launch on October 15th, 1997. Coincident with this date, after many months of development, the new Cassini-Huygens website went live to the public on Tuesday October 15, 2002. While the Cassini Outreach Team will continue to enhance the site with new material in the months ahead, this will be our electronic gateway for the Saturn Tour as we prepare for the spacecraft's arrival and tour. The website can be accessed at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

A photo-essay of Cassini's historic encounter with Jupiter in early 2001 is now available online at the website of
"The Year In Space" 2003 Desk Calendar, an award-winning 144-page weekly calendar featuring images and information from the past, present and future of space exploration and astronomical discovery. The photo-essay summarizes some of the early accomplishments of Cassini, which was launched five years ago. For more information on the "The Year In Space" 2003 Desk Calendar, go to http://www.YearInSpace.com or call 800/736-6836.

Additional information about Cassini-Huygens is online at http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov.

Cassini will begin orbiting Saturn on July 1, 2004, and release its piggybacked Huygens probe about six months later for descent through the thick atmosphere of the moon Titan. Cassini is a cooperative mission of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages the mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

Media Relations Office

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

California Institute of
Technology

National Aeronautics and Space
Administration

Pasadena, Calif. 91109.
Telephone (818) 354-5011