Significant Event Report for Week Ending 8/13/1999

Cassini Significant Event Report

For Week Ending 08/13/99

Spacecraft Status:

The most recent spacecraft status is from the Deep Space Network (DSN)
tracking pass on Thursday, 08/12, over the Canberra tracking station. The
Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. The speed of the spacecraft can be viewed on the "Where is Cassini Now?" web page (http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm)

On Friday, 08/06, AACS parameters were updated in preparation for Trajectory
Correction Maneuver 12 (TCM-12).

On Tuesday, 08/10, TCM-12 sequence products were uplinked to the
spacecraft and began execution.

On Wednesday, 08/11, TCM-12 executed exactly per plan, putting the
spacecraft on course for the Earth Swingby on Aug 17 (Aug 18, GMT).

Playback of TCM data confirmed a nominal burn at 8:30 am, Pacific Time,
duration of 133.5 seconds as predicted, with a delta V of 12.26 as
predicted. Orbit solutions based on the radiometric data to this point
indicate a very accurate delivery to the target point.

On Thursday, 08/12, the Earth Science sequence was uplinked to the
spacecraft.

Upcoming events for the period of 08/13 - 08/19 include:

The Earth swingby; Visible and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) cover
deployment; MAG boom deployment; instrument calibrations; Earth, solar and
lunar science collection primarily associated with instrument calibrations,
and initiation of science playback.

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.

Media Relations Office

Jet Propulsion Laboratory

California Institute of
Technology

National Aeronautics and Space
Administration

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