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Cassini's Extended-Extended Mission, July 2010-June 2017
stevesliva
post Feb 23 2009, 04:14 PM
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QUOTE (volcanopele @ Feb 23 2009, 01:54 AM) *
Whoops...


Yes, I see the problem. Your collision simulation clearly has a poor representation of the resulting "explosion."
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djellison
post Feb 23 2009, 04:49 PM
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Nothing unusual about that news release.
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Byran
post Feb 23 2009, 04:52 PM
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QUOTE (ugordan @ Feb 22 2009, 11:50 PM) *


- 55 Titan
- 11 ENCELADUS (in 2651, 49, 48, 49, 1208, 49, 49, 49, 81, 1800, 2234, 49, 4999 km)
- 3 DIONE (in 199, 523, 510 km)
- 2 RHEA (in 200, 2300 km)
- EPIMETHEUS (in 3125 km)
- METHONE (in 1453 km)
- TELESTO (in 2867 km)
- HELENE (in 1807 km)


--------------------
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Bjorn Jonsson
post Feb 23 2009, 07:28 PM
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As previously discussed there are no targeted Hyperion flybys. However, there are some pretty close nontargeted flybys:

HYPERION 2010-332T03:31:35 Nov28 Sun Inbound 71598.9 km flyby, v = 4.9 km/s, phase = 73 deg
HYPERION 2011-237T17:50:51 Aug25 Thu Outbound 48781.7 km flyby, v = 5.2 km/s, phase = 106 deg
HYPERION 2011-259T13:22:45 Sep16 Fri Outbound 57347.5 km flyby, v = 4.8 km/s, phase = 84 deg
HYPERION 2012-068T01:21:42 Mar08 Thu Inbound 93452.2 km flyby, v = 5.5 km/s, phase = 148 deg
HYPERION 2015-151T13:42:21 May31 Sun Outbound 35456.9 km flyby, v = 4.3 km/s, phase = 71 deg

The last flyby in particular is at much closer range than any of the flybys so far with the exception of the targeted flyby.

In addition there are several flybys of Mimas at significantly closer range than the closest flyby (~61,000 km) of the primary mission. There are also many nontargeted flybys of Tethys including two flybys closer than 10,000 km. The W/NW part of Odysseus isn't particularly well imaged, hopefully this 'gap' gets filled.

There are many nice flybys of Rhea. There isn't very good stereo coverage near 0° longitude. Hopefully that relatively small 'gap' gets filled - I want a high resolution DEM of Rhea's *entire* surface smile.gif.

Lots of nontargeted Dione flybys as well and many flybys of the small 'rocks'.

I'm a bit surprised there are no Voyager class (~100,000 km) Iapetus flybys since there was a ~120,000 km flyby early in the mssion and that one was by luck/accident and not planned. It happened when the first few months of Cassini's trajectory were altered in response to problems with the Cassini - Huygens communcations.

This is going to be a very interesting extension to the mission provided everything goes well.
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Mariner9
post Feb 24 2009, 04:32 AM
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Any estimates available on annual cost of the XXM? I recall reading that current mission costs are running about 80 million dollars. They had hoped to get that down to 40 million a year, but it was deemed impractical to go that low.

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Holder of the Tw...
post Feb 24 2009, 06:51 PM
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QUOTE (volcanopele @ Feb 20 2009, 04:06 AM) *
If you like little rocks, mark May 20, 2012 on your calender (Methone and Telesto).
smile.gif

QUOTE (Bjorn Jonsson @ Feb 23 2009, 01:28 PM) *
As previously discussed there are no targeted Hyperion flybys. However, there are some pretty close nontargeted flybys...
The last flyby in particular is at much closer range than any of the flybys so far with the exception of the targeted flyby.
These will be excellent for pictures. Unfortunately, the gravitational data that was missed in the close flyby will not be recovered by any of these. Not a criticism, though. Just a little regret.

QUOTE (Bjorn Jonsson @ Feb 23 2009, 01:28 PM) *
In addition there are several flybys of Mimas at significantly closer range than the closest flyby (~61,000 km) of the primary mission..
The closest flyby is during the current extended mission, and it will be a good one. Just inside 10,000 km on 13 Feb 2010. At that range, it will take about eight NAC frames or so to stretch across the disk of Mimas (figure about fifty to seventy frames for a mosaic). Herschel crater will be at high noon, so you might not get much shadow relief. But the "Kodak" quality should still be pretty good. I can't speak for everyone, but if they pull it off, I'll consider Mimas as done well enough.

QUOTE (Bjorn Jonsson @ Feb 23 2009, 01:28 PM) *
I'm a bit surprised there are no Voyager class (~100,000 km) Iapetus flybys...

Boy, so am I. Biggest disappointment of the XXM. sad.gif Can't have everything, though. A lot to look forward to.
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paxdan
post Feb 24 2009, 09:44 PM
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QUOTE (stevesliva @ Feb 7 2009, 05:23 AM) *
The image of passing between the rings and he cloudtops is a nice tease...

Proximal Orbits wow! The view from 3800 km is going to be awesome
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ngunn
post Feb 24 2009, 10:17 PM
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Following the 'proximal' link I've just read that piece by John Spencer. Made me wish I had a hat to throw in the air. I always said we needed a long lived 'weather satellite' for Titan in particular, now it seems that Casssini can take on that assignment and a lot more besides. Will it be funded? Well I don't think NASA will ever be offered so much science at so small a cost.
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Holder of the Tw...
post Feb 24 2009, 10:24 PM
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Clicked on the link Paxdan provided for the Planetary Society. Now that's a story!

Kudos to the Cassini team for their great planning and hard work. I appreciate the fact that they tried to work in another Iapetus encounter. It just wasn't in the cards.

Volcanopele's cryptic picture now makes perfect sense. So this is how the journey will end. Not with a whimper, I trust. Hope Cassini is transmitting right to the end.
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HughFromAlice
post Feb 25 2009, 04:18 AM
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I've just read John Spencer's "Solistice Mission" article on Emily's blog. It made me extend my lunch break as it was such a fantastic read!! Let's just hope that the team can make a proximal orbit around the money and get the required slingshot effect to take us to the pay off on September 15 2017!!!
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ngunn
post Feb 25 2009, 09:32 PM
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I know most people who come here keep an eye on TPS too but it seems appropriate to link to the excellent new flybys diagram for Cassini's whole mission, existing and proposed:

http://www.planetary.org/blog/article/00001857/

It's breathtaking how much one spacecraft can undertake.
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Thu
post Feb 26 2009, 01:06 PM
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QUOTE (ngunn @ Feb 26 2009, 04:32 AM) *
It's breathtaking how much one spacecraft can undertake.

You're absolutely right!

From the diagram we can easily find out that the more Titan flybys, the less icy moons' and vice versa. Well, we cannot get both of them for free laugh.gif
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ugordan
post Feb 26 2009, 01:37 PM
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QUOTE (ngunn @ Feb 25 2009, 10:32 PM) *
It's breathtaking how much one spacecraft can undertake.

Of course, we are yet to find out if it's able to handle such a long extension.

Knock on wood.


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remcook
post Feb 26 2009, 06:28 PM
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Great write-up!
In the (pretty) graphic representation of the mission Emily posted today on her blog it mentions G Arc flybys, one of them taking place next year. What are the observations like for these?
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HughFromAlice
post Feb 27 2009, 02:17 PM
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QUOTE (remcook @ Feb 27 2009, 03:58 AM) *
G Arc flybys ..... What are the observations like for these?


If you mean why are these observations being made then ...........The G arc is part of the G ring - a faint ring about mid way between the F and E rings. There is a bright bulge or arc for about a sixth of the ring circumference that is held in place by an orbital resonance with Mimas. I think the interest in studying this is that the properties of the arc strongly suggest that it is the remnants of a small icy moon (small = about 250m diameter) that broke up quite recently in astronomical terms (maybe a few hundred thousand years ago?). So obs from a close range will give us more information on its dynamical properties, size of constituents etc as a step forward in understanding how the rings of Saturn may have formed.

If you mean what observations are to be made, then I don't know!

Good that the mission is not to be extended for too long - the G ring is expected to dissipate within the blink of an astronomical eye - a few thousand years!
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