Space Forum / Space History / May 2004

> MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
> JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
> CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
> NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
> PASADENA, CALIF. 91109  TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
> http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
>
> Carolina Martinez (818) 354-9382
> Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
>
> Donald Savage (202) 358-1727
>
> NASA Headquarters, Washington
>
> News Release: 2004-134               May 28, 2004
>
> Cassini-Huygens Mission Status Report
>
> The Cassini spacecraft successfully performed a critical six-minute
> trajectory correction maneuver May 27 to put it on course with its
> first encounter, Saturn's outermost moon Phoebe, set for June 11.  The
> spacecraft is operating normally and is in excellent health.
>
> "The maneuver is very critical for getting us into Saturn orbit
> because it is the first checkout of the bipropellant pressurization
> system after nearly five years of dormancy," said Todd Barber,
> propulsion engineer for Cassini at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory,
> Pasadena, Calif.  "It sets the stage for Saturn orbit insertion on
> June 30."
>
> During the course of its trip, Cassini has traveled 3.4 billion
> kilometers (2.1 billion miles). "We couldn't have asked for a smoother
> ride," said Robert T. Mitchell, program manager for the
> Cassini-Huygens mission at JPL. "All the instruments are performing
> well, and for almost seven years we have traveled without any major
> hitches. The excitement is building as we are getting ready to put
> Cassini in orbit around the ringed planet." The orbiter has relied on
> three radioisotope thermoelectric generators to power all the
> electrical components, including the 12 science instruments. The
> European-built Huygens probe on board Cassini carries six instruments.
>
> "If the road to Saturn were a highway, the Cassini orbiter would have
> passed the sign along the road that says 'Saturnian County line,'"
> said Jeremy Jones, chief navigator for the Cassini-Huygens mission at
> JPL. "The next exits are Phoebe, 9 million kilometers (5.4 million
> miles) ahead, Saturn 19 million kilometers (12 million miles) ahead."
>
> Phoebe is an oddly shaped moon with a dark surface. It orbits in the
> opposite direction from the motion of most other bodies in the solar
> system. The backwards-revolution leads scientists to believe that it
> is an object captured from distant Kuiper Belt, making it an
> interesting target. "The Phoebe flyby may offer the first glimpse of
> what the frigid bodies at the edge of the solar system look like,"
> said Dr. Bonnie Buratti, scientist on the Cassini-Huygens mission at
> JPL. "These bodies, which include Pluto and its satellite Charon, are
> believed to be remnant objects left over from the formation of the
> planets 4.5 billion years ago."
>
> After the Phoebe flyby, Cassini will be on course for Saturn. On
> arrival date June 30 (July 1 Universal Time), Cassini will become the
> first orbiter around Saturn. "The two Voyager and Pioneer spacecraft
> flew by the planet and saw it from a distance two or three days at a
> time. With Cassini, we will be in the city limits for four years,"
> said Dr. Dennis Matson, project scientist for Cassini at JPL. "The
> difference is like driving by the Grand Canyon versus stopping,
> getting off and enjoying the sights for a while."
>
> On arrival, Cassini will begin a 96-minute burn designed to put the
> spacecraft into Saturn's orbit. As part of getting the spacecraft into
> orbit, Cassini will twice cross between known gaps in the rings. As a
> precautionary measure, the spacecraft will use its antenna as a shield
> to protect it from tiny particle hits.
>
> A prime target for Cassini and the piggyback Huygens probe built by
> the European Space Agency is the smoggy moon Titan. "In the 350 years
> since the discovery of Titan we have come to see it as a world with
> surprising similarities to our own, yet located almost 1.5 billion
> kilometers (900 million miles) from the Sun," said Dr. Jonathan
> Lunine, Huygens interdisciplinary scientist and professor of planetary
> science and physics at the University of Arizona, Tucson. "With a
> thick, nitrogen-rich atmosphere and possible hydrocarbon seas, Titan
> may harbor organic compounds important in the chain of chemistry that
> led to life on Earth."
>
> Six months after reaching Saturn, Cassini will release the wok-shaped
> Huygens probe towards Titan on Dec. 24, 2004 (Dec. 25 Universal Time).
> The event will be by far the most distant descent of a robotic probe
> on another object in the solar system. On Jan. 14, 2005 (Jan. 15
> Universal Time), Huygens will enter Titan's atmosphere, deploy its
> parachute, and begin its scientific observations of Titan.
>
> The Cassini-Huygens mission 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, manages the Cassini-Huygens mission for NASA's
> office of Space Science, Washington, D.C. JPL designed, developed and
> assembled the Cassini orbiter.
>
> For the latest images and more information about the Cassini-Huygens
> mission, visit http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov .
>
> - end -