Fairweather Posted June 30, 2004 Posted June 30, 2004 3.3 billion dollars (and Euros!) riding on some pretty complex speed/gravity calculations. Hope they got it right. Money well spent IMO. The craft has passed within the orbit of Titan and will cross through a gap in the rings even while firing its engine for 96 minutes to slow down into its orbit. Cool stuff. http://saturn1.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.cfm Quote
foraker Posted June 30, 2004 Posted June 30, 2004 They've already discovered that Saturns magnetic poles are aligned equatorially, rather than along it's axis of rotation. Now that's something cool! Quote
Dru Posted June 30, 2004 Posted June 30, 2004 i wondr if they are going to find an ocean of ethanol on titan Quote
CascadeClimber Posted June 30, 2004 Posted June 30, 2004 i wondr if they are going to find an ocean of ethanol on titan Giant flying Bit-O-Honey bars and strange gorilla things... Quote
Off_White Posted June 30, 2004 Posted June 30, 2004 I'm psyched, this is a pretty cool space mission. Check it out Fairweather, two things we agree on in as many months. Quote
murraysovereign Posted June 30, 2004 Posted June 30, 2004 Cassini's already dropped in on the neighbours - here's a nice snap of Phoebe Quote
Fairweather Posted July 1, 2004 Author Posted July 1, 2004 The position image in my original post is constantly updating itself. The craft's speed has gone from 35,000kph to over 80,000kph since last night! Quote
gslater Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 Glad to see this mission working out well. I was working at Martin Marietta Space Systems (makers of the Cassini propulsion module) back in the early days of CRAF/Cassini, and the program has certainly had its share of turmoil. Few things in the land of geekdom are as exciting as awaiting the results of an orbital insertion burn after a multi-year trip.... Quote
foraker Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 Yeah, I reckon that's got to give everyone involved a case of the nervous shits. Quote
gslater Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 Yeah, I reckon that's got to give everyone involved a case of the nervous shits. It's no fun to have your job's existence (or your career fame/shame) directly tied to the setting of a single bit of data in the telemetry stream... Quote
foraker Posted July 1, 2004 Posted July 1, 2004 Wow, check out those ring images! : JPL Home Page Quote
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