IPB

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

The Grand Finale, Proximal orbits
jasedm
post Oct 27 2016, 01:34 PM
Post #1


Member
***

Group: Members
Posts: 655
Joined: 22-January 06
Member No.: 655



With a month to go before the F-ring orbits commence, I thought it would be good to open a discussion about what exactly to expect, and the challenges and risks associated with the final months of Cassini's mission.

The final phase has been described as a mission in itself - one that might have attracted funding if it were stand-alone rather than one planned for the end of an already phenomenally successful enterprise.

We will no doubt continue to get regular updates at ciclops a resource which has been invaluable to followers of the mission, and which have provided a brilliant insight into upcoming science activities during each orbit, since early 2007 (Thanks Jason).
I'm hoping too biggrin.gif that perhaps Emily may post one of her excellent articles on the TPS blog that give more of an inside track on the science that is planned for the final months.

To summarise, the F-ring orbits commence on November 30th and comprise 20 orbits of the spacecraft with periapses just a few thousand kilometres outside the F-ring - this will allow the opportunity to image the dynamism of the F-ring as never before, as well as (imaging opportunities willing) our best views of the rings and ring-moons - Atlas, Pan, Daphnis, Pandora, Epimetheus and Janus (Prometheus has already had it's closeup) There may be opportunities to get images of some of the known ring clumps (S/2004/S6 if still extant) and/or the known propellers/clumps in the outer A-ring such as S/2009/S1 and Bleriot/Earhart. The rings are simply gigantic though, and many of the orbits of the ring-embedded moons are chaotic so probably I'm hoping for a bit too much.

From what I can gather, there seems to be less risk with the F-ring orbits than with the proximal orbits as Cassini has sampled this environment to a degree already, and I believe it is intrinsically less dusty than the D-ring, and with relatively low radiation exposure to Cassini.

The 23 proximal orbits commence on 23rd April next year following the penultimate Titan flyby, and will thread between the inner rings and Saturn's cloud tops. This is slated as the opportunity to pin down Saturn's rotation, measure the mass of the rings and obtain unparalleled data on Saturn's atmosphere. This is where the spirits of adventure and exploration reach their zenith, as the environment between the rings and the planet is not fully understood.

The attached article gives an insight into the enormous planning challenges that these orbits present. It's fairly technical, but in summary:

The dust and radiation hazards present unknown risks to not only Cassini's science instruments but also the ability of the spacecraft to maintain it's optimal orientation whilst preventing any safing events.
As I understand it, it's not possible to prevent the glare of Saturn's atmosphere and rings blinding the sun sensor and star trackers, as they are located on the HGA which is facing forward to minimise risk of damage to the science instruments, so it's planned to command Cassini to 'suspend' star identification for 5 hours either side of each periapsis - thus flying blind during the 'hairy' part of the orbit.
Mission controllers also have to deal with the not-fully constrained effects of aeroheating during periapses which may affect the instruments, and there is also a risk of safing due to radiation constrained within Saturn's magnetic field.
The article states that the first proximal orbits will 'test the water' as regards the environment in that region, with periapse being lower on the final five orbits.

It seems that many of the 'safing' protocols/thresholds will be relaxed during periapses, hopefully preventing Cassini entering safe mode - perhaps one of the worst-case scenarios - each orbit at this stage is only seven days, which doesn't allow a huge amount of time to upload new commands should that happen.

I can only marvel at the technical brilliance of people involved in Cassini-Huygens and all they do, and have no doubt the final months of the mission will be a fitting end to this generation's exploration of Saturn.








Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
 
Start new topic
Replies
nprev
post Aug 23 2017, 05:08 AM
Post #2


Merciless Robot
****

Group: Admin
Posts: 8783
Joined: 8-December 05
From: Los Angeles
Member No.: 602



Interesting. I don't suppose there's a ghost of a chance of getting HST time for this? Wouldn't require a long observation period, but of course the instrument's time is booked years in advance.


--------------------
A few will take this knowledge and use this power of a dream realized as a force for change, an impetus for further discovery to make less ancient dreams real.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

Posts in this topic
- jasedm   The Grand Finale   Oct 27 2016, 01:34 PM
- - alan   Cassini has just passed the last periapse of its F...   Apr 19 2017, 07:15 PM
- - Floyd   Some links to information and movies: Animated vi...   Apr 21 2017, 01:19 PM
|- - MahFL   Less than 150,000 miles out now.   Apr 26 2017, 04:16 AM
- - jasedm   Fingers crossed!   Apr 26 2017, 05:48 AM
- - craigmcg   5:19 am EDT   Apr 26 2017, 09:23 AM
- - Floyd   I trust that Cassini has successfully made it, but...   Apr 26 2017, 02:35 PM
- - Ames   Carrier? https://eyes.nasa.gov/dsn/dsn.html   Apr 27 2017, 06:28 AM
- - Explorer1   Downlink started!   Apr 27 2017, 07:20 AM
|- - MahFL   Awesome.   Apr 27 2017, 08:50 AM
|- - jasedm   Great news!   Apr 27 2017, 10:03 AM
- - Floyd   Images--see Twitter LINK   Apr 27 2017, 11:44 AM
- - B Bernatchez   Excuse my ignorance, but this hurricane is the one...   Apr 27 2017, 04:40 PM
|- - JRehling   Saturn's north pole – and those of its satelli...   Apr 27 2017, 05:31 PM
|- - wildespace   QUOTE (B Bernatchez @ Apr 27 2017, 05:40 ...   Apr 28 2017, 03:01 AM
- - SigurRosFan   Yeah, here's a first amateur panorama of the n...   Apr 27 2017, 06:38 PM
- - avisolo   I made a gif of the dive! http://i.imgur.com/i...   Apr 28 2017, 09:17 AM
- - wildespace   Nice colours in this recent view (RGB stack from W...   Apr 29 2017, 09:46 AM
- - Astroboy   Enceladus spraying away on April 27. Reminds me a ...   Apr 29 2017, 11:46 PM
- - MichaelJWP   Not sure if this has been posted, but this movie p...   May 4 2017, 10:20 AM
- - Phil Stooke   Wildespace said, just above: "Nice colours i...   May 4 2017, 01:47 PM
- - Ian R   We're looking at the south pole of Saturn (cur...   May 4 2017, 03:41 PM
- - scalbers   Interesting brightness changes on the limb. Is thi...   May 4 2017, 04:07 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (scalbers @ May 4 2017, 09:07 AM) I...   May 10 2017, 03:42 PM
- - ngunn   With much of the attention on Saturn and the rings...   May 9 2017, 01:21 PM
- - tanjent   The background writeup for the cloud picture. http...   May 10 2017, 12:17 AM
- - scalbers   Thanks JRehling for that informative discussion wi...   May 10 2017, 11:05 PM
|- - JRehling   I puzzled over the geometry for a while, trying to...   May 11 2017, 02:44 AM
- - Ian R   Soon .....   May 13 2017, 12:26 AM
- - jasedm   Nice image from 1st May - Sirius (bleaching out do...   May 14 2017, 08:00 PM
- - Ian R   Cassini Grand Finale Saturn Portrait (Annotated Ve...   May 15 2017, 05:48 AM
- - jasedm   Breathtaking stuff! The definitive image of a ...   May 15 2017, 05:38 PM
- - Ian R   Thanks Jase! The other version of the mosa...   May 20 2017, 03:48 AM
- - Holder of the Two Leashes   Cassini survived a close brush by the D ring, no w...   May 31 2017, 02:20 PM
- - avisolo   I made a video homage to the Cassini Mission: http...   Jun 8 2017, 09:46 AM
- - wildespace   No new posts for two whole months? Where is everyb...   Aug 8 2017, 09:41 AM
|- - jasedm   QUOTE (wildespace @ Aug 8 2017, 10:41 AM)...   Aug 9 2017, 02:04 PM
|- - GS_Brazil   QUOTE (wildespace @ Aug 8 2017, 06:41 AM)...   Aug 9 2017, 07:12 PM
||- - jasedm   QUOTE (GS_Brazil @ Aug 9 2017, 08:12 PM) ...   Aug 9 2017, 09:21 PM
|- - Steve G   QUOTE (wildespace @ Aug 8 2017, 02:41 AM)...   Aug 15 2017, 12:39 PM
|- - rlorenz   QUOTE (wildespace @ Aug 8 2017, 05:41 AM)...   Aug 22 2017, 03:58 PM
|- - bobik   QUOTE (rlorenz @ Aug 22 2017, 03:58 PM) B...   Sep 13 2017, 07:49 AM
- - Phil Stooke   Too much other stuff going on! But I feel you...   Aug 8 2017, 08:05 PM
|- - john_s   I noticed that too. One other possibility is tha...   Aug 8 2017, 10:38 PM
|- - ynyralmaen   Depending on the path between Cassini and Dione th...   Aug 8 2017, 11:09 PM
|- - fredk   QUOTE (john_s @ Aug 8 2017, 11:38 PM) But...   Aug 9 2017, 03:16 PM
|- - ynyralmaen   QUOTE (fredk @ Aug 9 2017, 04:16 PM) The ...   Aug 9 2017, 08:19 PM
- - ngunn   I noticed this and assumed that Dione was orbiting...   Aug 8 2017, 10:34 PM
- - nprev   Interesting. I don't suppose there's a gho...   Aug 23 2017, 05:08 AM
|- - rlorenz   QUOTE (nprev @ Aug 23 2017, 12:08 AM) Int...   Aug 26 2017, 07:58 PM
- - Explorer1   EOM press event schedule https://saturn.jpl.nasa.g...   Aug 25 2017, 02:58 AM
- - wildespace   A bit of surprise astrophotography from Cassini: h...   Aug 25 2017, 09:08 AM
- - alan   If that is the Large Magellanic Cloud in the secon...   Aug 25 2017, 05:18 PM
|- - wildespace   QUOTE (alan @ Aug 25 2017, 06:18 PM) If t...   Aug 25 2017, 10:35 PM
- - nprev   Outstanding! Good hunting.   Aug 26 2017, 10:15 PM
- - Floyd   Information on the live Cassini Finale on NASA TV ...   Aug 30 2017, 11:21 AM
- - alan   Enhanced version of the cluster: Image of Taran...   Aug 30 2017, 09:03 PM
|- - jasedm   Enhanced version of the cluster Cassini also imag...   Sep 7 2017, 08:42 PM
- - nprev   Sadly, I'll be working the job that pays my bi...   Aug 31 2017, 02:47 AM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (nprev @ Aug 30 2017, 07:47 PM) And...   Sep 9 2017, 06:20 AM
- - climber   I realize that the only piece oh human hardware le...   Sep 9 2017, 07:37 AM
- - jasedm   Cassini receives its final gravitational tug/nudge...   Sep 11 2017, 04:37 PM
|- - JRehling   QUOTE (jasedm @ Sep 11 2017, 09:37 AM) Th...   Sep 13 2017, 03:59 PM
- - MatthewK   I feel a bit self-conscious posting this because I...   Sep 12 2017, 03:13 AM
- - propguy   Friday AM will be a very sad day for me. I starte...   Sep 13 2017, 07:59 PM
- - Tom Tamlyn   Has anyone found an archive of today's Cassini...   Sep 14 2017, 02:15 AM
|- - Explorer1   QUOTE (Tom Tamlyn @ Sep 13 2017, 07:15 PM...   Sep 14 2017, 02:41 AM
|- - Tom Tamlyn   Thanks very much. May I ask how you found it? I ...   Sep 14 2017, 03:13 AM
|- - Explorer1   QUOTE (Tom Tamlyn @ Sep 13 2017, 08:13 PM...   Sep 14 2017, 01:59 PM
- - Superstring   In my view, Cassini is a defining mission for the ...   Sep 14 2017, 03:14 AM
- - climber   Speaking of age etc... Doug started UNMSF a few da...   Sep 14 2017, 05:48 PM
- - djellison   Cassini is why I took the old mer.rlproject.com UR...   Sep 14 2017, 05:51 PM
- - Phil Stooke   I was born before Sputnik, and though I was not re...   Sep 14 2017, 07:28 PM
|- - jasedm   QUOTE (Phil Stooke @ Sep 14 2017, 08:28 P...   Sep 14 2017, 08:25 PM
- - stevesliva   A Neptune orbiter would be pretty sweet in the sam...   Sep 14 2017, 07:32 PM
- - jasedm   Interior to Dione's orbital distance now.   Sep 14 2017, 09:22 PM
- - belleraphon1   Born in 1953. A time when public could still wonde...   Sep 14 2017, 11:27 PM
|- - MahFL   Hi all. Watching here. My name is on Cassini . My ...   Sep 14 2017, 11:47 PM
- - elakdawalla   Images for the final wide angle mosaic are coming ...   Sep 14 2017, 11:58 PM
- - Astroboy   I'm not crying, you're crying!   Sep 15 2017, 01:45 AM
- - Explorer1   And with that, I realize that tomorrow morning wil...   Sep 15 2017, 02:09 AM
|- - tedstryk   I became old enough to kind of understand at the v...   Sep 15 2017, 03:42 AM
- - wildespace   The final mosaic of Saturn is being downlinked. He...   Sep 15 2017, 04:02 AM
|- - JRehling   These are the days of miracle and wonder This is t...   Sep 15 2017, 07:52 AM
- - climber   Don't know why, but I wake up this morning wit...   Sep 15 2017, 08:01 AM
- - jch   And how can a probe die better than facing alien w...   Sep 15 2017, 10:39 AM
- - nprev   To die like a meteor in a blaze of glory, gracing ...   Sep 15 2017, 10:46 AM
- - Explorer1   Looks like the final raws are down, showing the fi...   Sep 15 2017, 11:26 AM
|- - ugordan   Thank you and farewell, Cassini. You will be miss...   Sep 15 2017, 11:58 AM
- - paxdan   Thank you to the Team who built and flew the craft...   Sep 15 2017, 12:03 PM
|- - Tom Tamlyn   From Jonathan McDowell @planet4589 (via @elakdawal...   Sep 15 2017, 12:13 PM
|- - Roby72   QUOTE (Tom Tamlyn @ Sep 15 2017, 01:13 PM...   Sep 15 2017, 12:48 PM
- - mchan   Many great moments of first looks at images on UMS...   Sep 15 2017, 12:36 PM
- - Ron Hobbs   A truly awesome mission! This is humanity at i...   Sep 15 2017, 12:42 PM
- - Roby72   Here is a nice flickr picture set what happend in ...   Sep 15 2017, 01:12 PM
- - xflare   Is there any component of Cassini that could have ...   Sep 15 2017, 03:51 PM
|- - craigmcg   QUOTE (xflare @ Sep 15 2017, 11:51 AM) Is...   Sep 15 2017, 05:09 PM
- - tasp   The plutonium fuel pellets in their aeroshells wer...   Sep 15 2017, 04:57 PM
|- - Tom Tamlyn   Still no chance of survival. Cassini was moving at...   Sep 15 2017, 05:46 PM
- - Keatah   QUOTE (xflare @ Sep 15 2017, 04:51 PM) Al...   Sep 15 2017, 05:08 PM
2 Pages V   1 2 >


Reply to this topicStart new topic

 



RSS Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 28th March 2024 - 03:19 PM
RULES AND GUIDELINES
Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting.

IMAGE COPYRIGHT
Images posted on UnmannedSpaceflight.com may be copyrighted. Do not reproduce without permission. Read here for further information on space images and copyright.

OPINIONS AND MODERATION
Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators.
SUPPORT THE FORUM
Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member.