The University of Colorado at Boulder will host a free space celebration that will include a live NASA television feed of the $3 billion Cassini-Huygens mission that is expected to enter Saturn's orbit June 30 toting a $12 million CU-Boulder instrument.
The event will begin at the Space Technology Building of CU's Laboratory for Atmospheric and Space Physics at 6:30 p.m. and include live NASA video and audio coverage on the insertion of the spacecraft into the ringed planet's orbit.
The program includes talks by several scientists and engineers regarding the mission, including LASP Research Associates Nick Schneider and Josh Colwell and LASP Engineers Mark Langton and Neil White.
The Cassini craft will begin a four-year mission to explore the planet's fabulous rings and atmosphere and seven of Saturn's prominent moons. Launched in 1997 from Cape Canaveral, Fla., the orbiter is carrying LASP's Ultraviolet Imaging Spectrograph, or UVIS. The most ambitious planetary mission ever, the $3 billion international project is managed by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.
The LASP celebration also will include public tours of the facility, including the control room where engineers and students currently control three satellites. In addition, faculty and students will be available to talk about other missions LASP is involved in, including NASA's MESSENGER mission to Mercury, AURA mission to study Earth's atmosphere, AIM Mission to study noctilucent clouds and a robust sounding rocket program.
LASP's Space Technology Building is located in the CU Research Park. The facility -- a large brick and glass building set back from the road with a white satellite dish on the roof -- is located on the north side of Colorado Avenue between 30th Street and the Foothills Parkway. It can be reached from Denver by taking the Foothills Parkway exit from U.S. 36, then turning left on Colorado Avenue. Free parking is available.
Following is a schedule of LASP's public Cassini Mission celebration:
6:30 p.m. -- Doors open at the LASP Space Technology Building.
7 p.m. -- Talk by Nick Schneider in the auditorium, "Saturn and Our Solar System."
7 p.m. -- Talk by Mark Langton in the atrium, "Engineering for Space Missions."
7:30 p.m. -- Talk by Josh Colwell in the auditorium, "The Cassini Mission."
7:30 p.m. -- Talk by Neil White in the atrium, "Building the Cassini UVIS Instrument."
8 p.m. -- Live viewing of NASA TV: Saturn rings plane crossing by Cassini.
8:30 p.m. -- Cassini spacecraft orbit insertion burn monitored by NASA TV.
9 p.m. -- Talk by Mark Langton in the auditorium, "Engineering for Space Missions."
9 p.m. -- Talk by Nick Schneider in the atrium, "Saturn and Our Solar System."
9:30 p.m. -- Talk by Neil White in the auditorium, "Building the Cassini UVIS Instrument."
9:30 p.m. -- Talk by Josh Colwell in the atrium, "The Cassini Mission."
10:12 p.m. -- Live viewing of NASA TV: End of Cassini orbit insertion burn.
10:43 p.m. -- End of NASA TV commentary.