…We’re about 5 minutes before an expected occultation of Cassini’s
SOI telemetry by the F-ring. As we wait, here’s some quick facts about
the burn:

*  78 minutes after engine start Cassini will be captured by Saturn
*  8 minutes later Cassini will clip Saturn’s cloud tops by 19,980 km
*  9-19 minutes later SOI engine burn stops
*  8 hours later first images at noon UTC (5am PDT – 8am EDT)

                                OM

–

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for     | http://www.io.com/~o_m
 his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
 poor dumb bastard die for his country."    | Human O-Ring Society

        – General George S. Patton, Jr

…Doppler & carrier went from a surprisingly stronger-than-expected
but still sporadic to weak ~1.52-2db, to a fairly good 9-10db as
Cassini went "thru" the Encke gap, exactly as predicted by computer
simulation. Contact is expected to be reestablished in ~10 minutes
when Cassini goes "thru" the eponymous Cassini Division of Saturn’s
rings.

…The MSA is *all* smiles, and everyone is vigilant but still rather
jubilant, and deservedly so. Both local & state political figures are
present for your usual photo ops and gladhanding, as well as ESA reps
who are sharing the congrats over the success so far.

…FYI, those who aren’t able to get the feed are missing something
rather unique: The lady running the filler commentary is actually
managing to ask questions without sounding like a total bimbo. If only
Jim Oberg had this gal asking the questions when he got interviewed
earlier today

                                OM

–

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for     | http://www.io.com/~o_m
 his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
 poor dumb bastard die for his country."    | Human O-Ring Society

        – General George S. Patton, Jr

…So far so good as Cassini approaches the behindside of the D ring.
Doppler still occluded, but being received ~1.5-2db going from
sporadic to weak.

                                OM

–

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for     | http://www.io.com/~o_m
 his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
 poor dumb bastard die for his country."    | Human O-Ring Society

        – General George S. Patton, Jr

…Cassini has reached the Cassini Division, and signals are being
rcvd at ~4db and climbing. All systems are still go, and by the time I
finish posting this it should be halfway thru the CD on its way behind
the B ring.

…On a side note, they also report that CDR Gennady Padalka and FE/SO
Mike Fincke on ISS have completed their EVA and are now back inside
the PIERS module. The EVA was apparently a success, and power has been
restored to one of the failed ISS gyros. Good work, guys!

                                OM

–

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for     | http://www.io.com/~o_m
 his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
 poor dumb bastard die for his country."    | Human O-Ring Society

        – General George S. Patton, Jr

…At just under 2/3 thru the SOI burn, doppler signal strength thru
the Cassini Division got as high as 11db before dropping back down to
the ~>1.5-2db levels once Cassini went behind the B-ring. Engine
performance based on how the doppler strength drops have matched
calculations appears to be right on the money!

                                OM

–

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for     | http://www.io.com/~o_m
 his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
 poor dumb bastard die for his country."    | Human O-Ring Society

        – General George S. Patton, Jr

…While the SOI burn has placed Cassini in a capture orbit around
Saturn, there’s still apparently a bit to go before SOI is finished.
Burn at posting time is only 86% complete. Closest approach to Saturn
during the burn will be at an altitude of 20,500km, just after leaving
B-ring occultation. By 11:04 CDT we should see strong signal from
Cassini, with little to no further blockage expected from the very
thin C-ring.

                                OM

–

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for     | http://www.io.com/~o_m
 his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
 poor dumb bastard die for his country."    | Human O-Ring Society

        – General George S. Patton, Jr

…JPL now reports that Cassini has exited from behind Saturn’s
B-ring, signal is strong in the 8-10db range. C-ring is providing
almost no signal interference whatsoever as the end of the SOI burn
comes to an end. Note that telemetry does confirm that the burn is
going slightly ahead of schedule, and that the engine is probably in
an overburn mode of a couple of percent above expectations.

…On a side note, once SOI is completed, Cassini will have ~1.5 hours
of continuous burn fuel left in the primary engine. Considering the
overburn, YMMV.

…On another side note, those expecting images during the ring plane
pass will be disappointed. While JPL and the Cassini team didn’t talk
much about it, all imaging systems were turned off during the plane
passage. Magenetometers were running fine, tho, so some science was
done. May have been the logical thing to do, but there’s those old
animations from Voyager of the ring plane crossings that all of us
would have loved to have seen for real

                                OM

–

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for     | http://www.io.com/~o_m
 his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
 poor dumb bastard die for his country."    | Human O-Ring Society

        – General George S. Patton, Jr

On Thu, 01 Jul 2004 04:15:00 GMT, Bruce Palmer <bp…@optonline.net>
wrote:

>Schweeeeet!  Welcome to Saturn.

…and considering that my signature’s one of those sent to Saturn on
Cassini, that’s got a bit of a personal meaning to me as well!
Hoo-RAH!

                                OM

–

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for     | http://www.io.com/~o_m
 his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
 poor dumb bastard die for his country."    | Human O-Ring Society

        – General George S. Patton, Jr

…And, as expected, HGA switchover occurred right on time, and the
expected burst of strong signal was received. From this point on, it’s
all science! Note that at 4:45 EDT, the first post-SOI images should
be received and NASA TV will be covering the event.

I’m outta here. Congrats to JPL and Lockmart on a job well done! We
now return .policy to it’s normal state of disarray, and .history to
its current troll infestation…

                                OM

–

"No bastard ever won a war by dying for     | http://www.io.com/~o_m
 his country. He won it by making the other | Sergeant-At-Arms
 poor dumb bastard die for his country."    | Human O-Ring Society

        – General George S. Patton, Jr

     F     Y     I

He is a notorious USA hater and basher.