Cassini Meets Saturn Thread - Updates, Photos

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Courtesy of NASA - Tonight's Plan:

9:11 p.m. -- Spacecraft turns to shield itself while crossing ring plane.
10:36 p.m. -- Engine begins 96-minute burn to slow spacecraft.
11:54 p.m. -- Captured in Saturn's orbit
12:03 a.m. -- Closest approach to Saturn.
12:12 -12:22 a.m. -- Engine burn ends.
12:35 a.m. -- Spacecraft begins taking pictures of rings.
Around 8 a.m. -- First images sent to Earth

[Timberwolf]

This oughta be one COOL thread!!!

Thomas, are you going to be in charge of the updates??

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Yes, I'll provide updates.

It has turned itself to protect itself from dust particles. It's preparing to cross the ring plane. That should start in a few moments.

The most important part is the burn, which must work exactly right for the craft to insert itself in the orbit.

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Mission control (heard over the 'Net) says about 33 minutes until burn time

[Timberwolf]

Here's a link to some of the pictures taken recently (within the last month)

http://photojournal.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/Cassini

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Those are great. They're from Cassini's approach to the planet. Tonight the craft officially enters orbit. If everything goes well tonight, we should have some excellent images of just the rings themselves (it's going to come really close to the rings, and go through one of the gaps) by tomorrow morning.

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

UPDATE: Everyone in mission control just cheered. Cassini has survived the ring plane! The long burn is still ahead, so keep praying.

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Doppler signal confirms that the burn has started. 95 minutes to go

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Burn is 60% complete. Passing by the major division in the rings, and the one that the craft was named after - Cassini

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Cassini is now in orbit around the planet! Woohoo! Burn continues to try to get the craft into the best possible position, so it can do the four-year study.

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Doppler has flattened out, indicating that the burn has stopped. Cease time is within seconds of the prediction, meaning that the craft will be able to do everything that is planned.

Way to go, NASA!!!

[Timberwolf]

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Way to go NASA!!!

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Yes, this is great news. We should see the first images (from after the orbit insertion) tomorrow.

The next nail-biter will be in December, when the probe that's to land on Titan starts its separation from Cassini.

[Estragon]

Great job, NASA and ESA!


Can't wait to see the close-up pictures of Saturn and its rings!

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

[ QUOTE ]
Estragon said:
Great job, NASA and ESA!




[/ QUOTE ]

That's true! I didn't mean to leave out the Europeans. They had a lot to do with this success, too. Of course, America was in charge of monitoring tonight's insertion.

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Oh, and the Italian Space Agency, which is not part of the ESA, had a lot to do with this, too!

[Timberwolf]

Just watch...we'll be accused of taking unilateral action by the UN and doing it on our own.

/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/biggrin.gif

[ThomasIsUnderrated]

Note: These are raw images. All of the noise and imperfections have not yet been removed, and they have not been touched up in any major way. Keep in mind that these were taken right after the burn, and that they were not well-planned shots. Now that Cassini is in orbit, mission control will be able to take the time and "tell" Cassini exactly where to investigate. However, even at this early stage, you can see the power of Cassini.

You can view all of the raw images as they come in here: http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/index.cfm



Image Credit: NASA/JPL

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/61694main_soi6-516.jpg

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/raw/casJPGFullS02/N00006483.jpg

http://www.nasa.gov/images/content/61690main_soi4-516.jpg