Significant Event Report for Week Ending 9/26/2003

Cassini Significant Event Report

For Week Ending 09/26/03

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Goldstone tracking station on Monday, September 22. 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.

On-board activities this week included data playback of last week's Probe checkout, a Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument fight software checkout and Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph Hydrogen Deuterium Absorption Cell conditioning.

A Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM) approval meeting was held for TCM 19B. The maneuver has been approved and will execute on October 1.

Preliminary and official port 2 deliveries were completed as part of the Science Operations Plan (SOP) implementation process for tour sequences S01 and S02. In addition, the SOP implementation process for S03 and S04 has concluded and the sequences archived.

Imaging Science Subsystem personnel delivered the Imaging Science Subsystem Pre-commanding Tool (ISSPT) V1.0. This program allows the user to design imaging observations using the Imaging Science Subsystem on the Cassini spacecraft. ISSPT allows the user to adjust and optimize camera settings, calculate image brightness and content based on pointing, and produce an Instrument Operations interface output file suitable for building camera command sequences.

Members of the International Astronomical Union recently passed a resolution during their meeting in Sydney, Australia:

"OBSERVATIONS OF THE SATURNIAN SYSTEM

IAU Commission 16 (Physical Study of Planets and Satellites) endorses astronomical observations of the Saturnian system at the time of the NASA and ESA Cassini/Huygens mission to the Saturnian system. The attention of the worldwide astronomical community is drawn to the unique scientific opportunities presented by the presence of a long-lived orbiting spacecraft in the Saturnian system and a Titan Probe. Observations of all types, ground- and space-based, are encouraged during the course of the mission (nominally 2003-2008), including observations of Saturn, the rings, Titan, and the icy satellites."

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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