Significant Event Report for Week Ending 12/1/2000

Cassini Significant Event Report

For Week Ending 12/01/00

The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Madrid tracking
station on Wednesday, November 29. 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.

Activities this week included the completion of the third and start of the
fourth of four instances of the Phase B 5-Day repeating template for Jupiter
observations. Template activities include the Imaging Science Subsystem
(ISS) 2x2 movie, Composite Infrared Spectrometer (CIRS) North / South
Scans, ISS 1x4 Satellite Search, Cassini Plasma Spectrometer (CAPS)
orientation to place -X axis to sun and rotate, and Radio and Plasma Wave
Science (RPWS) calibration. Additional activities include reaction wheel
momentum unloads, Radio Science (RS) Ultra Stable Oscillator (USO)
calibration, uplink and execution of the Magnetospheric Imaging Instrument
(MIMI) turn ON mini-sequence, CIRS Instrument Expanded Block load for C23
Phases C, D and E, and a Cosmic Dust Analyzer (CDA) threshold adjustment

Instrument Operations (IO) and the Multi-Mission Image Processing
Laboratory (MIPL) delivered 3825 ISS images and 33 Visual and Infrared
Mapping Spectrometer (VIMS) cubes last week making a total of 9030 Jupiter
images and 53 cubes delivered through 11/29.

IO issued a report this week on the results of the in-flight test of the
new VIMS Flight Software. Upgrades to the software were introduced to
support Jupiter activities and are working as expected.

IO-RS conducted a USO characterization. Ka- and X-band open and
closed-loop data were obtained for four hours over DSS-25 at Goldstone,
California. The new Radio Science Receiver was also used to acquire
open-loop data. Data analysis is on-going.

An Atmosphere Working Group (AWG) telecon was held to begin the discussion
of Saturn atmospheric science observations in the tour. This meeting went
well with each Instrument Team interested in Saturn science discussing
their plans for acquiring Saturn atmosphere science throughout the tour.
A follow-up telecon has been scheduled for January.

Mission Support & Services Office (MSSO) personnel participated in a
cross-office meeting to coordinate the installation of Multi-Mission
Spacecraft Analysis Subsystem (MSAS) V5.2 software for the Spacecraft
Office (SCO). The software is to be installed on four workstations to
test performance and use. Testing of the HP V25.2 is now complete. This
software is to be installed on Navigation workstations.

Cassini/Multi-Mission Ground Data System (CAS/MMGDS) training will begin
in early December for new SCO, IO, Uplink Operations (ULO), and Science
Planning (SP) personnel.

A presentation on Cassini, with special attention on Jupiter results, was
well-received last week at the Reuben H. Fleet Science Center in San
Diego. University of California San Diego TV recorded the session for
future broadcast.

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 project of NASA, the European Space Agency and the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.

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