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[Orstio]

It's not just you Rem.   

You're the first to post news about it every time, though.  Thanks.

[remcook]

2 weeks till Phoebe flybe weeeheee!

[remcook]

some more pictures of saturn lately:

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/multimedia/images/latest/index.cfm

[remcook]

10 days...

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/operations/approach.cfm

[remcook]

press kit with all the fly-by dates (when I'm bored I may add them to the calendar)

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/press_kits/cassini-arrival.pdf

and today is that webcast:

http://television.esa.int/default.cfm
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/webcast/cassini/

[Orstio]

'Music2Titan': sounds of a spaceprobe

When ESA’s Huygens spaceprobe, travelling on board NASA's Cassini spacecraft en route to Saturn, lands on the planet's largest moon Titan in January 2005, not only will it carry a variety of scientific instruments, but also music ‘made in Europe’.

Four musical themes composed by French musicians Julien Civange and Louis Haéri were placed on board ESA’s Huygens probe in October 1997. After a seven-year and 4000 million kilometre journey, the music will reach Titan on 14 January 2005. This will be the furthest distance at which human-made sounds will have landed on another celestial body.

The four songs, namely ‘Hot time’, ‘Bald James Deans’, ‘Lalala’ and ‘No love’ were recorded in 1997 at the Sony Studios in New York City under the direction of producer Kirk Yano. The recorded versions on board the spacecraft last for 12 minutes.

The purpose of putting music on the spacecraft is to strengthen the knowledge of ESA’s Huygens mission to Titan, by aiming to leave a trace of our humanity in the unknown and to build awareness about this adventure, especially among young people.

Musician Julien Civange, of the Siliwood-Music2Titan project, said: “Music2Titan reflects our will to embellish Earth and space with unconventional artistic projects, as well as to familiarise youngsters with space missions and the search for traces of extraterrestrial life, communicate about space science outside a scientific framework, and disseminate dreams.”

While waiting to discover the music when Huygens lands on Titan, Siliwood already invites you to go to Music2Titan.com

The Cassini-Huygens mission is a co-operation between NASA, ESA and ASI, the Italian space agency.

[remcook]

http://www.planetary.org/news/2004/cassini_phoebe.html

[Skyjim]

We post some nice, large-format prints of each Cassini press-release image in the public exhibit area of the observatory annex we currently occupy.  Every time I do a public planetarium show, I'm spreading the word about the upcoming dive through the ring system and orbital insertion, emphasizing the local connections (JPL is about 10 miles away by freeway from our site).

People who are not spring-loaded to be excited about space exploration need to have the inherent drama, technical skill, and excitement of these missions sort of "sold" to them  - they normally have only the vaguest idea of where we stand in missions.  Some are surprised that the MER explorations are ongoing, since coverage has tailed off.  Many have difficulty remembering that Galileo orbited Jupiter for years, and if they remember the first successful landing on Mars, they think it was by Pathfinder ("the one with the little tiny rover").   These aren't necessarily stupid or ignorant people (though some certainly are..) - but they do reflect the generally spotty coverage of space related events in the mass media.  There is an expectation that engineers, fabricators, and scientists will simply continue to pull these amazing missions out of their hats and little thought to the blood sweat, tears, and most of all, funding needed to bring these efforts to fruition.  Given the state of news reporting, I don't find it at all surprising that these missions occupy a place in the public mind similar to some exotic entertainment event.  After all, media moguls have discovered that packaging news as entertainment, of entertainment as news, is effective!

Anyway, we try to get people revved up, explain what is unique, historical, and exciting about these missions, and take advantage of the fact that people have walked into our little planetarium voluntarily.  You need to be welcoming, enthusiatic, and informative, and never fail to show how enthusiastic YOU are about the ongoing human adventure ( If you sound bored, why should they get excited? ).  I've met plenty of people doing this work who are plainly tired of the whole thing, but thus far, I've mamaged to avoid becoming jaded.  Every time I'm on the way to the observatory, I'm excited that I'm about to get paid to  run a planetarium or make a kitchen comet for a group of school kids.  I hope fevently that I can hang on to that feeling.

OOPS!  I'd better post the above in the Griffith thread - sorry.  Been unable to post for so long, stuff is just pouring out, guys.  I'm so jazzed about the Phoebe encounter, Tuesday's Venus transit, leaving for a week of public astronomy at the Grand Canyon, and the tension-filled day of Saturn orbit insertion that I'm about to burst.  (Cue Mr. Creosote scene from Python's "Meaning of Life"...)

We're in the midst of this golden age of space and planetary science, and it is awesome!

Jim   

[Astronuc]

Hopefully our efforts of planetary exploration will be sustained.

I am looking forward to the "Platinum Age" when we start sending larger exploratory craft out to Uranus and Neptune, and of course manned missions to Mars and maybe to the Jovian moons.

[Skyjim]

Absolutely!  JIMO is going to be such a shift in capability if it flies that it will completely redefine multidisciplinary science platforms in space. 

Think of the sheer volume of data being mined and to be mined from Galileo, Mars Global Surveyor, Mars Odyssey, Mars Express, the MERs, Spitzer, Hubble, Chandra, Integral, XMM-Newton, Stardust, Genesis, and even the two Voyagers!

We've already got unprecedented amounts of data coming back from probes, enough to keep researchers busy for decades - and at the same time, ground-based astronomy is undergoing a renaissance.    There's plenty to celebrate, even as we gnash our teeth over things like the Hubble decision. 

[remcook]

the first phoebe pictures!

http://ciclops.lpl.arizona.edu/view.php?id=183

[remcook]

http://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04p.html

[Astronuc]

Cassini Spacecraft Near First Stop In Historic Saturn Tour

Pasadena (JPL) Jun 10, 2004

The most complex interplanetary mission ever launched is about to meet one of the solar system's enigmatic moons. Cassini will fly by Saturn's largest outer moon, Phoebe, on Friday, June 11. The closest approach is at approximately 1:56 p.m. Pacific Time, just 19 days before Saturn arrival.

A final trajectory correction maneuver is scheduled for June 16. On arrival date, June 30, Cassini will become the first spacecraft to orbit Saturn. Once in orbit it will conduct an extensive, four-year tour of the Saturn system, including its majestic rings and many known moons.

"The arrival date and trajectory to Saturn were specifically selected to accommodate this flyby, which will be the only opportunity during the mission to study Phoebe at close range," said Dave Seal, mission planner for the Cassini-Huygens mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

Full article - http://www.spacedaily.com/news/cassini-04q.html

[remcook]

phoebe looking good!

http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewsr.html?pid=13095
http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cgibin/gs2.cgi?path=../multimedia/images/small-moons/images/PIA06063.jpg&type=image

[Orstio]

Even better:



It looks pretty battered.

http://saturn.jpl.nasa.gov/cgibin/gs2.cgi?path=../multimedia/images/small-moons/images/PIA06066.jpg&type=image