Cassini Significant Events<br />for 03/13/03 - 03/19/03<br /><br />The most recent spacecraft telemetry was acquired from the Canberra<br />tracking station on Wednesday, March 20. The Cassini spacecraft is in<br />an excellent state of health and is operating normally. Information on<br />the present position and speed of the Cassini spacecraft may be found on<br />the "Present Position" web page located at<br />http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/present-position.cfm .<br /><br />Attitude Control Subsystem (ACS) Flight Software checkout continued this<br />week with the following activities performed: restoration of the custom<br />telemetry schedule to the nominal schedule, live Inertial Vector<br />Propagation update demonstration, demonstration of Star ID suspend,<br />turns while in Reaction Wheel Assembly (RWA) control, reloading of the<br />ACS Backup Flight Computer with the new version A8 flight software,<br />setting of Backup Trickle, RWA friction test, and several high water<br />mark clears and fault protection log pointer resets.<br /><br />The Attitude Control Flight Software checkout has now very successfully<br />concluded. The spacecraft hardware and new flight software have<br />performed all checkout activities normally. Initial analysis shows that<br />all objectives of the tests were met and the software will be able to<br />meet all requirements for orbital operations. The Command and Data<br />Subsystem (CDS) Flight Software checkout will begin a similar five-week<br />checkout period on Monday. Two real-time command files will be uplinked<br />for CDS to establish and verify the initial conditions prior to their<br />CDS Flight Software checkout period.<br /><br />Preliminary Sequence Integration and Validation products for C37 have<br />been released. A simulation coordination meeting will be held next<br />week. The first three days of the sequence will be tested to ensure<br />that the background sequence and the Trajectory Correction Maneuver<br />block are well integrated.<br /><br />A NASA Independent Review Team (IRT) met with members of Cassini teams<br />and offices this week. A draft report from the team contains positive<br />findings with members of the board remarking on the progress of various<br />teams since last year's IRT meeting. Also mentioned was the quality of<br />the technical program, technical understanding, sound operations and<br />development processes, and demonstrated problem solving ability of a<br />very dedicated team.<br /><br />The use of dual solid-state recorders (SSR) in the remaining portion of<br />cruise was discussed at the Mission Planning Forum. It was agreed that<br />dual SSRs would be used for CDS flight software checkout, Trajectory<br />Correction Maneuvers 19, 19a, 19b, and the Saturn Orbit Insertion demo.<br />Permanent dual SSR use will begin with C43 in February of 2004.<br /><br />System Engineering hosted an Uplink Verification and Validation (V&V)<br />readiness/kick-off meeting. Uplink V&V, beginning 3/31, is an<br />end-to-end dry run of the tour uplink process to develop the final tour<br />sequences sent to the spacecraft. Status items presented included team<br />and tool status, test file deliveries and repositories, schedules, test<br />trace matrices, success criteria, work remaining, and team readiness to<br />go for the uplink V&V.<br /><br />Mission Assurance presented a paper entitled "Cassini Risk Management<br />during Mission Operations and Data Analysis (MO&DA) - Application and<br />Lessons Learned" at last week's IEEE Aerospace Conference. The talk<br />illustrated how Cassini implemented risk management during MO&DA, some<br />of the challenges that were encountered, and how lessons learned led to<br />improvements. The paper was well received by the audience and there was<br />good discussion among session participants.<br /><br />A Cassini image of Jupiter's Great Dark Spot was Astronomy Picture of<br />the Day on March 19th. The image selected may be viewed at<br />http://antwrp.gsfc.nasa.gov/apod/ap030319.html<br /><br />Outreach assisted with check-in of projects and Q&A for a science fair<br />at Barnhart School in Arcadia, California. In the evening, telescopes<br />supplied by Outreach and the Los Angeles Astronomical Society allowed<br />students to view Jupiter, Saturn, M42, and a host of other early evening<br />objects.<br /><br />Cassini project members participated in an outreach activity with the<br />Aerospace Engineering department at California Polytechnic University<br />(Cal Poly) in Pomona. They were invited to be part of a review board for<br />student engineering projects with other representatives of the local<br />aerospace industry. Fourth year students prepared material in response<br />to a "request for proposal" for an asteroid reconnaissance mission.<br />This review was the "preliminary design review" of their initial design<br />solutions. The students will present their final designs at a "critical<br />design review" in a couple months.<br /><br />Cassini is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency and<br />the Italian Space Agency. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of<br />the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, Calif., manages the<br />Cassini mission for NASA's Office of Space Science, Washington, D.C.<br /><br />Cassini Outreach<br />Cassini Mission to Saturn and Titan<br />Jet Propulsion Laboratory<br />California Institute of Technology<br />National Aeronautics and Space Administration