Tuesday, June 29, 2004

1 Day to Cassini orbital insertion



Cassini is due to go into orbit around Saturn in 1 day , 7 hours and 19 minutes as I write this.

June 30, 9:30 p.m. EDT - NASA TV Coverage begins.
June 30, 10:36 p.m. PDT - Engine fires for 96 minutes to slow down.
July 1, 12:12 a.m. PDT - Engine burn complete; spacecraft in orbit.

Nasa also have a full guide to the orbital insertion

The BBC mention this story as well giving the UK times as follows:

"The burn starts at 0336BST on 1 July, with the probe's main engine turned towards the direction of travel. The braking manoeuvre ends at 0512BST, with Cassini in an elliptical orbit."

The Slashdot crowd are discussing it here , with a mention to join #cassini on irc.freenode.net