Only a few weeks til the Phoebe flyby...

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Do not taunt Happy Fun Ball.

Image of the Week (already today? =D>): Pandora and Prometheus Near F Ring.

I want to see some good Mimas pictures. Such a creepy looking Deathstar moon

Editorial: Get ready to be overwhelmed by Saturn.

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Its just an adjective I thought of (although others probably beat me to it. HA! See if RCH will ever admit that!) for Titan. I read somewhere that the atmosphere is smoggy, hence "the smog moon". Uranus would probably fit the description better. Another adjective I have is for Europa; the ice moon. Cool, huh? The moon Io already has a name I happen to agree with; the pizza moon. Perhaps a "Planetary Nicknames" thread should emerge? We are most definately the waterworld. Glub.

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This is no fantasy. No careless product of wild imagination. - Jor-El

Godspeed, John Glenn. - Scott Carpenter

And these atomic bombs that science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men that used them.
- H.G Wells, The World Set Free

To the conspiracy crowd, radiation is a big Boogey Man that inspires terror and death in all who encounter it. - JayUtah

Cassini was only 20 million kilometers from Saturn at 02:40:06 UT on 2004-May-25. =D>

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Cassini has now officially entered the Saturn Planetary System. 8)

=D> =D> =D>

Outstanding!

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You're a coward and a liar and a thOOF - Bart Sibrel

Correction: Image of the Day.

Today: Rings and Shadows.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

The translucence is captivating. 8)

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Lighten up! This is a stellar board!

I hope we will see less color diparity in future images. Still, it sure is a site!

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Lighten up! This is a stellar board!

Rocket firing on tap for Cassini spacecraft

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Just 1,250 miles from Phoebe? Those will be some incredible pictures!

Indeed!

Voyager 2 photographed Phoebe with a resolution of 20 km/pixel.
Cassini's photos will have resolution up to 15 meters/pixel.

8)

Cassini, by a knockout in 3 rounds.

Poor old Hubble doesn't even have an RTG, let alone a 73-pounder. It won't stand a chance.

Yes, but Hubble is a heavyweight, tipping the scales at 11,110 kilograms. The welterweight Cassini (5,574 kilograms, and that's with propellant) is completely overmatched.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Rocket firing successful

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

Whew!!! That's a relief. The main motor still works.

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

After the Mars Observer blew up under similar circumstances in the early 90's, the JPL folks are pretty antsy about the operation of their propulsion systems. I've seen a diagram of Cassini's, and it's got an almost unbelievable amount of redundancy.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

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Everything I need to know I learned through Googling.

The maneuver beginning time 7:47:31 is in ERT. The OWLT between the earth and Saturn is 1 hour 21 minute 31 second then, so actually, the beginning time in SCET should be 6:26:00.

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Yeahbut! No matter how much redundancy is built into the main motor, there is still only one of them. It is nice to know that it works after 5+ years of inactivity. 8)

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Any day you wake up on "the right side of the dirt" is a good day.

T. Anderson

Sky and Telescope's July 2004 issue features Saturn (and our "little" robot friend out there)! Beatiful Cassini image of Saturn on the cover 8) .

__________________
This is no fantasy. No careless product of wild imagination. - Jor-El

Godspeed, John Glenn. - Scott Carpenter

And these atomic bombs that science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men that used them.
- H.G Wells, The World Set Free

To the conspiracy crowd, radiation is a big Boogey Man that inspires terror and death in all who encounter it. - JayUtah

Kaptain K wrote:

Cassini actually has a backup main engine, which would kick in automatically if the other engine fails during a burn. The designers pretty much included everything possible except a kitchen sink and a scan platform.

This is my first post to a webboard EVER , so if my posts come out looking strange, that's the reason.

This is a great board. I've been lurking here for about a year.

(Edited once for formatting.)

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Presented with a flourish. I now return to my cave.

Welcome to The Board, Philistine, a place where even the most intelligent, correct and complete post may attract a wisecrack who will point out a flaw in it... :P

Not actully a backup engine. The main propulsion system has two engines, but if neccessary, one is enough to do the job. Normally they work in parallel, but they are gimballed so if one fails, the thrust vector of the remaining one could be changed to run through the CG of the probe - otherwise it would be sent into a flat spin.
In the original plan, Cassini even had two scan platforms, which would have been great to do plenty of science in parallel. But due to cost reduction requirements, they were cancelled one by one. Though scan platforms are a possible source of failure, you would still have the backup which is now the only method: orienting the whole craft.
As the BABB is my favourite work-avoidance activity: Any tips how to stay away from here for some time? :-)

Harald

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"Flying in space is risky business, but just staying on this planet is risky business too." - John Young, astronaut

How did they plan on getting the original design off the ground? Cassini is enormously heavy and expensive as it is! It took America's most powerful rocket (a Titan IV) to launch it.

a) Get banned. [-X
b) Ruin your computer
c) Write something so embarassing that you don't want to know what people think of it. :P
d) Get involved with a significant other and spend all your free time having ... fun.

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Presented with a flourish. I now return to my cave.

these are false image of the Cassini Huygens mission but I like the picture a lot

http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/...huygens006.jpg

http://esamultimedia.esa.int/images/...aturn31170.jpg

http://www.esrin.esa.it/export/images/31140_L.jpg

Cassini-Huygens was only 16 million kilometers from Saturn at 09:01:25 UT on 2004-Jun-02.

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By this time next month, Cassini will be at Saturn!
30 days and counting.......

__________________
This is no fantasy. No careless product of wild imagination. - Jor-El

Godspeed, John Glenn. - Scott Carpenter

And these atomic bombs that science burst upon the world that night were strange even to the men that used them.
- H.G Wells, The World Set Free

To the conspiracy crowd, radiation is a big Boogey Man that inspires terror and death in all who encounter it. - JayUtah