Australia is one of three complexes that constitute NASA's Deep Space Network which is used to monitor such missions as Cassini, the Mars Rovers and Stardust.
Losing the dish at Canberra "would mean that we would be unable to acquire the Doppler signal [from the Cassini spacecraft] that were counting on to be able to monitor the progress of the burn tonight, Mitchell told reporters.
Though recent weather looked more favorable, it didnt eliminate the wind threat entirely, Mitchell added.
Autonomous Action
Cassini is operating on its own. Commands from Earth are already tucked inside the spacecrafts onboard brains to perform the necessary maneuvers and critical engine burn to swing into orbit around Saturn.
I have full faith in the spacecraft itself, said Julie Webster, manager of the spacecraft operations team at JPL. Its going to make this burn, one way or the other.
For Cassini the major action item ahead is putting on the brakes -- set to occur today at roughly 10:36 p.m. (Eastern Daylight Time). The spacecrafts engine firing will slow the probe down so it can be captured by Saturn's gravity. That engine burn lasts approximately 96 minutes.While were all a little bit nervous, were also very excited, Mitchell said. The Saturn Orbit Insertion, or SOI for short, ranks as a rather hair-graying event. There are no problems. We have no indication of any problem with the spacecraft that would have any adverse impact on SOI.
NASAs nuclear-powered Cassini is pulling up to Saturn following nearly 7 years of cruising through interplanetary space. The Cassini-Huygens mission is a cooperative project of NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA) and the Italian Space Agency. JPL designed, developed and assembled the Cassini orbiter.
This whole mission has been an incredibly smooth one to fly, said Julie Webster, manager of the spacecraft operations team at JPL. Now prepared to swing into Saturn orbit, signals sent from Cassini take over one hour, twenty-three minutes to reach Earth, she said.
Ringside events
Prior to engine ignition, Cassini will turn so its large, high-gain antenna can shield the craft from particles as it crosses Saturn's ring plane.
Shortly after the engine burn ends, the spacecraft is ready to collect science data for about 75 minutes, Mitchell said, for later broadcast back to Earth, along with imagery, engineering data, as well as fields and particles information.
Well have a pretty hefty data set right at the start of Cassinis multi-year mission at Saturn, Mitchell had said Tuesday. While I cant tell you its going to be a slam dunk, there really is not any single thing I could point to [as a problem]. Its just looking very solid. Its looking very good.
Jeremy Jones, chief navigator for the Cassini-Huygens mission at JPL, said the spacecraft is working great, ready to carry out 77 orbits of Saturn during its primary mission.
During the spacecrafts four-year tour-of-duty at Saturn, it will study the planet, its rings and a number of the globes family of 31 known moons. More than 250 scientists worldwide will study the data collected.
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