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July 1st marked the event of exactly two years until Cassini executes Saturn Orbit Insertion. The most recent spacecraft telemetry confirms the Cassini spacecraft is in an excellent state of health and is operating normally. Cassini will continue 24-hour Deep Space Network coverage in support of the Radio Science Subsystem Solar Conjunction Experiment until its conclusion next week. Instrument Operations (IO) Visual and Infrared Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) personnel from JPL attended the recent VIMS Science Team meeting in Lisbon, Portugal. Issues regarding the capabilities of the on-board compressor were discussed with the French compressor expert. IO presented the contents of the next flight software upgrade and the results from recent cruise activities. Mission Support and Services Offices and Mission Planning Team personnel supported the Deep Space Mission System Services (DSMS) Mission Workshop. The primary topic of discussion was the need for projects to establish a "prioritization" scheme for November 2003 through February 2004. This period has an unusually high number of activities from many projects including the Cassini Radio Science Gravitational Wave Experiment, Saturn approach science, and a significant number of Mars activities. The prioritization will allow the OPS Chief and other real-time personnel to make appropriate choices should a DSN resource become unavailable. To help alleviate this situation, DSMS has added nine new Tracking Support Specialist positions, will be utilizing Multiple Spacecraft Per Antenna capabilities, and plans to use the Parkes and New Norcia stations in Australia for Mars view periods. The Spacecraft Office delivered an engineering delivery of the Inertial Vector Propagator/ Kinematic Prediction Tool 8.02 software set to fix 4 items required for Science Operations Plan Implementation of the S09 and S10 tour sequences. Mission Assurance supported the second joint JPL/Aerospace Risk Management Workshop. This workshop, conducted at JPL, was a follow-on to one conducted at Aerospace Corporation last month. These workshops will continue in an effort to jointly work together to advance the process of Risk Management. Related Links Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan SpaceDaily Search SpaceDaily Subscribe To SpaceDaily Express 
Cassini Camera Repairs Continue Successfully
NASA's Cassini spacecraft continues to fly in good health, speeding toward a July 1, 2004, appointment to begin orbiting Saturn. Test images of a star taken last week provide strong encouragement that a haze problem noticed on a Cassini camera lens is clearing up as anticipated, said Robert Mitchell, Cassini-Huygens program manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. |
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