Science observations such as imaging were scheduled to begin again on Thursday, said Guy Webster at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, which is managing the mission for NASA and the European and Italian space agencies. Cassini is bound for Saturn but has been studying Jupiter en route. Jupiter is also being orbited by NASA's Galileo spacecraft, giving scientists a chance to simultaneously study the big planet from different nearby vantage points. PST Saturday at a distance of 6 million miles.
Scientists plan to release initial findings that day.
The wheel began using an above-normal amount of electricity, so Cassini automatically switched to a system that uses thrusters to change its orientation. Controllers then suspended the science observations because the thruster system uses fuel that must be saved for the primary mission to Saturn. The wheel problem vanished in subsequent tests and the system went back into operation Dec. 21, but only to keep Cassini's antenna pointed at Earth. Cassini was launched from Florida in October 1997. The craft will reach Saturn in 2004, dropping a probe on the moon Titan and beginning a four-year study of the ringed planet.