Cassini Significant Event Report
For Week Ending 01/04/02
The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking
station on Wednesday, January 2. 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.
Recent instrument activities include two Radio and Plasma Wave Science High
Frequency Receiver calibrations. Engineering activities taking place onboard the
spacecraft this week include an Attitude Control Subsystem (ACS) high-water mark
clear.
Execution of C29 continues normally with the ongoing Gravitational Wave
Experiment, of which 37 days out of 40 days have been completed. Spacecraft
health remains excellent, maintaining a quiet spacecraft on RWA control.
Instruments remain quiet as well with MAPS data being collected and downlinked.
On Dec. 29, continuous DSN coverage in place for the GWE was interrupted by a
predicted lunar occultation lasting 1 hour and 24 minutes. All ground operations
for loss and re-acquisition of signal after the occultation proceeded normally.
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-Huygens 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.
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