Cassini

[chris]

I'm watching Cassini's SOI maneuver unfold in Celestia right now. I'm using multiview, with one pane showing the perspective from Cassini and another showing the view from Earth. It was neat to watch mission control on NASA TV as radio communication was restored as the spacecraft crossed the Cassini Division. Using the light time delay feature, the timing in Celestia was perfect! Just a few more minutes of burn until SOI is complete, then I'm keeping my fingers crossed for the descending crossing of the ring plane.

--Chris

[ElPelado]

Where can I found Cassini's model?

EDIT: Jack's site, where else?

[maxim]

Jack's Cassini model is perfect. What else do you need?

maxim

[ElPelado]

Thats what I said...
Maybe you didnt understand me, I meant that I found it in Jack's site, where else can someone look for a wonderful mesh?

[maxim]

Yes, I misunderstood that
I thought you want to find another one.

maxim

[guest jo]

deleted

[ElPelado]

Chris: I tryed to do what you did, but from Earth, at maximum zoom I cant see cassini, just a dot... where you in earth or where??

[Cham]

In Celestia, the Hyugens probe separates from Cassini on 25 december 2004. Is this the right date ? If so, it seems that Titan is pretty far away from Cassini at that date. Is there an error somewhere ?

I think I have the most recent Cassini.xyz file (may 2004).

[Cham]

This is amazing. On this site :

http://sci.esa.int/science-e/www/object ... ctid=34956

it confirmed that Huygens will be separated from Cassini on 25 december 2004. The probe will travel for 22 days up to Titan. Geez !

[ElPelado]

I think that is done like that becaus Cassini needs to change his path a little. Think of this:
Huygens has no engines. So if you want it to land on Titan you must put it in a path that will take it directly to Titan. You do that puting cassini in a path to Titan. Then after separation Cassini needs to change his path so I wont crash on Titan, but pass near it. You cant change the path if you are close to Titan, you need to change the path before reaching Titan. And thats why they separate Huygens 22 days before. Then cassini will make a small coure correction...

[selden]

ElPelado,

Actually, they had to change the release date from the original plan. The design of Huygens' radio didn't take into account the doppler shift in the transmission frequency after separation. The frequency shift would have kept Cassini from receiving Huygens' data signals. The revised (slower) trajectory reduces the doppler shift and avoids this problem.

For details, see the ESA report at http://sci2.esa.int/huygens/docs/huygens_enquiry_board.pdf

[ElPelado]

But that doesnt change what I explained, does it?

[selden]

No, it doesn't. Sorry: I had a comment saying that your explanation was OK, just not the reason for the change, but it got deleted while I was editing my post.

[ElPelado]

Ok, no problem

[yuriwho-ha]

Hi, I'm a Cassini fan and new to celestia. I have downloaded the 3DS and ssc files and the xyz from cvs. I've put the 3DS files in /models and the ssc file in /extras. Where do I put the xyz file and how do I use these files in Celestia to observe cassini's SOI and subsequent orbits? Celestia do not appear to recognize Cassini yet.

Any pointers for a newbie would be appreciated.

Y

[Pliskin]

Im probably dead wrong but heres my 2 cents:

I *think* you can also put the XYZ file in your extras. In Celestia, right-click on sol and selesct Cassini from the satalites tab. Then just press "G" and you're there, have fun and welcome to celestia!

::--::Pliskin::--::

Edit:

Another way to find Cassini is by pressing return(enter) and typing Cassini, then pressing return again.

An extremly helpful guide is avalible here

[yuriwho-ha]

well, I got it working by putting the xyz into /data

tres cool