- PASADENA, Calif. (AP) -
The plutonium-powered Cassini spacecraft went
- into a safe mode this week when it detected a possible
error in its
- orientation en route to Saturn, NASA's Jet Propulsion
Laboratory said
- Wednesday.
-
- The operations team was in contact with the spacecraft,
which sensed
- the
- possible problem on Monday and triggered a program designed
to halt all
- non-critical activity and maintain a communications
link with Earth, a
- JPL statement said.
-
- Cassini, NASA's biggest and most complex interplanetary
probe, is on a
- $3.4 billion mission to explore the ringed planet. It
was launched on
- Oct. 15 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., over the objections
of anti-nuclear
- protesters who feared what might happen if the rocket
exploded while
- carrying Cassini and its 72 pounds of extremely poisonous
plutonium.
-
- The spacecraft is on a roundabout trip through the solar
system in
- which it will use gravity assists from planets to reach
Saturn in July
- 2004.
-
- The JPL statement said that at about 3 p.m. Monday,
the spacecraft was
- in the midst of an instrument checkout exercise when
it sensed a
- potential error.
-
- The spacecraft used its safe program to begin using
minimum power and
- pointing its 12-foot antenna toward the sun to shade
the rest of the
- spacecraft.
-
- Communication with the spacecraft was being conducted
with a low-gain
- antenna.
-
- Cassini Program Manager Bob Mitchell said engineering
data from the
- spacecraft are being transmitted to Earth to help engineers
pinpoint
- what caused Cassini to enter the safe mode.
-
- Mitchell said he expects Cassini will be taken out of
safe mode later
- this week after the problem has been identified and data
thoroughly
- analyzed.
|
