News Release


Contact: Carmen Ramos Chandler
(818) 677-2130
carmen.chandler@csun.edu


CSUN's Planetarium to Offer Look at Cassini's Mission to Saturn

(NORTHRIDGE, Calif., June 15, 2005) ÑCal State Northridge alum David F. Coppedge, a lead system administrator for NASA's Cassini Mission to Mars, will offer insight on that interplanetary mission during a presentation on Friday, June 24, at CSUN's Bianchi Planetarium.

"Science at Saturn: The Cassini/Huygens Mission to Saturn and Titan," will take place at 8:30 p.m. in the planetarium near the center of the campus at 18111 Nordhoff St. in Northridge.

The Cassini/Huygens mission is the biggest and most advanced interplanetary project in NASA's history. Coppedge will share the last news from Cassini, which entered Saturn's orbit about a year ago on June 30, 2004. his photo-filled lecture will focus on many surprising and puzzling discoveries found on Saturn and will include the dramatic landing of the Huygens probe on Titan, Saturn's largest moon, on Jan. 14, 2004.

Coppedge, who has a bachelor's degree in physics from CSUN, is the team lead system administrator for the Cassini mission to Saturn and Titan at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena. His team of six administers the computers and network for the ground systems, both development and operations, where scientists and engineers build command sequences to be sent to the spacecraft and to receive data back on Earth. He is also responsible for a dozen remote-operations sites across the United States and Europe where instrument teams are located. A member of the Cassini team since before the launch in October 1997, Coppedge has witnessed the entire mission. He frequently interacts with the planetary scientists and attends science briefings as new discoveries come in.

Prior to the Cassini presentation, the planetarium will offer a 7:30 p.m. viewing of the stars, constellations and planets visible in the summer sky.

Student admission for the planetarium shows is $3. General admission is $5.

Tickets are available at the University Student Union box office Monday through Friday from 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m., or by calling the box office at (818) 677-2488.

For more information about the planetarium's shows, call (818) 677-5601.


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