QUESTION:
Why wasn't some real science done at Venus when the Cassini space craft =
flew by that planet twice, for gravity-assists in its trajectory towards =
Saturn? There were many in the planetary science community and amateur =
astronomers  looking forward to images in the visible, infrared, and UV =
wavelengths of Venus, as well as a chance to see RADAR images of the =
surface (at least to prepare the orbiter for pictures of Titan later =
on). Furthermore, RADAR images (though of less resolving power of the =
Venus Magellan Project) may  have been able to detect signs of ACTIVE =
volcanism which occurred since the Magellan Project ended earlier this =
decade.
 
If lack of funding is an issue here, perhaps the JPL should look to =
corporate sponsorship as a means to help defray costs.How about pasting =
advertising logos from Bud, Coca Cola, and others, on the space craft =
and on your web page, as NASCAR does to promote stock car racing? I =
would love to see all our unmanned (and manned) spacecraft as well as =
the NASA and JPL websites plastered with advertising promotions of all =
sorts if I knew the profits could help fund new missions and replace =
those lost such as the recent Mars Climate Orbiter.=20

ANSWER from Brian Rush on October 25, 1999:
Cassini did do real science during the Venus-2 and
Earth flybys. You can find a summary of the plan, broken
down by instrument at the following URLs:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/msnstatus/cassguide.html
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/msnstatus/venusguide.pdf
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/msnstatus/earthguide.pdf

These were written before the actual flybys, however the plan
was executed almost exactly as noted here.

The instrument teams have not yet released the data from
the flybys. When the data reduction and analysis is complete,
something about it will be referenced from the main Cassini
web site at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini

For now, some pictures of the Moon taken by Cassini, as well as
a couple amateur shots of Cassini itself as it flew by
Earth can be found at:

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/cassini/msnstatus/swingby.html

Regarding the question of corporate funding of Cassini and other
missions:  that is an issue for NASA which would be discussed at a level
beyond the scope of just one mission, so there's nothing we know or
could say about that from within the Cassini-Huygens program.