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Cassini Can See Cleary Now

Posted by timothy on from the smudges-on-my-glasses dept.

EccentricAnomaly writes: "Well, it looks like Cassini's camera problems have been fixed according this story at CNN and this Cassini mission status report. The haze first appeared on the camera lens somewhere between Jupiter and Saturn. Personally, I can't stand it when I get crud on my windshield -- especially when I'm 750 million miles from home."

10 of 22 comments (clear)

  1. Awesome! by tswinzig · · Score: 4, Funny

    Now only if you could type clearly as well.

    --

    "And like that ... he's gone."
  2. Cassini, and it's headlines, inside story history by EvilBastard · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Page 1 : PLUTONIUM POWERED PROBE COULD KILL BILLIONS IF EXPLODED ON TAKEOFF
    Page 7 : It didn't.

    Page 1 : EARTH COULD BE HIT BY PLUTONIUM PROBE FLYBY AND KILL EVERYONE
    Page 9 : Missed us.

    Page 1 : BILLION DOLLAR PLUTONIUM PROBE BLINDED
    Page 11 : We fixed it.

  3. Nice pics by AstroMage · · Score: 2, Informative

    To appreciate the nice pictures taken by Cassini, check out its website gallery. I especially liked the artwork section. While nor real pictures, they are still very nice... :-)

  4. Re:Proof that Cassini can see Cleary now,. by mmaddox · · Score: 3, Funny

    I was hoping this was Beverly Cleary. I want another Mouse and the Motorcycle book.

    --

    What'dya mean there's no BLINK tag!?

  5. Why Not Windshield Wipers? by gdyas · · Score: 2

    I know it sounds like a dumb joke, but really -- why not a set of high-tech, NASA-designed windshield wipers for when stuff like this happens again to the optics on a satellite?

    Other satellites are sure to run into interstellar crud in the future, so they could possibly have a lens-cleaning apparatus as well as a lens cover, like for Hubble.

    I'm sure some engineer up there has already thought of this but I'd figure I'd toss it out there.

    --

    The only tool you've got against psychosis is experience.

    1. Re:Why Not Windshield Wipers? by CheshireCatCO · · Score: 3, Insightful

      The reason why not? Moving parts. There is a taboo on moving parts, in as far as they can be avoided. Moving parts can jam in the most inconvient places, rendering an instrument useless. In this case, if a wiper got caught midwipe, all the subsequent pictures would have that wiper in the middle of the image. Sort of like fingers in vacation photos, but way more expensive.

    2. Re:Why Not Windshield Wipers? by esonik · · Score: 3, Insightful

      1) It would destroy the optics. You would get scratches and the finish (anti-reflection coating and such) would also be scratched away. Basically you don't want any mechanical contact with optics.

      2) There's no space for wipers when the condensate is somewhere within the lens system and you would need a seperate wiper for each surface.

      3) The surfaces of optics are not flat but probably spheric or have some different form. It would be difficult to build a wiper for that geometry.

    3. Re:Why Not Windshield Wipers? by Observer · · Score: 3, Informative
      OK, I should have responded here instead of to the "Headlines" post.

      NASA anticipated the problem - see the paragraph about lens heaters in the mission update referenced in the story.

      Not quite windshield wipers, granted, but the agency did anticipate the problem from ealier experience, and built in a solution that had worked before and which worked this time, too.

  6. cleary by EccentricAnomaly · · Score: 2

    I accidentally hit sumbit insted od preveiw. I was hoping someone would cetch mi mistakek and fix the spelling.

    --
    There are 10 types of people in this world, those who can count in binary and those who can't.
  7. Re:Cassini, and it's headlines, inside story histo by Observer · · Score: 2
    Actually, even better. For "We fixed it", read "We thought of this in advance and our solution worked".

    (From the mission update referenced in the story, the camera had built-in heaters to warm up the lenses in anticipation of this very problem, since warming the instruments had worked on previous missions. So the comment that suggested windscreen wipers wasn't totally off-beam....)