14 DAY TRIAL // One of the most important instruments aboard the NASA Cassini orbiter has just been brought back online, mission managers from the NASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), in Pasadena, California, announced on Friday, March 16.
The plasma spectrometer instrument (CAPS) was shut down after a series of short-circuits led to unexpected voltage shifts throughout the space probe. These events took place in June 2011. Since that time, CAPS has been under repairs.
Now that operations with this instrument will resume, scientists hope to be able to continue monitoring the electrical and energetic charge of particles Cassini encounters in its path. The orbiter has been surveying Saturn, its rings and its moons since achieving orbital insertion around the gas giant, on July 1, 2004.
Over the next few months, experts will continue to monitor the instrument, searching for any signs of unusual behavior in its operations.