NASA Stardust Status Report July 11, 2003
The Stardust team had eight periods of communication with the spacecraft
using the Deep Space Network in the past week. Telemetry relayed
from the spacecraft indicates it is healthy and all subsystems continue
to operate normally.
Preparations for the next Trajectory Correction Maneuver (TCM-9) are
underway. This TCM is a small followup adjustment to last month’s
Deep Space Maneuver 3. TCM-9 will be a 1 meter/second burn and because
the burn direction is very close to Earth point, the project has decided
to use this maneuver as an additional opportunity for measuring the
impact of small forces both before and after the burn. Since the burn
direction will be at Earth point, the best two-way doppler data will
be obtained, and still be well within the propellant margins. TCM-9 is
scheduled for July 16th.
Information on the present position and orbits of the Stardust spacecraft
and comet Wild 2 may be found on the "Where Is Stardust Right Now?" web
page located at:
http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/scnow.html
For more information on the Stardust mission — the first ever comet
sample-return mission — please visit the Stardust home page:
