Stardust Status Report April 12, 2002
There were three Deep Space Network trackin gpasses during the past week
and all subsystems are normal. Stardust is currently 2.71 AU (252
million miles, or 405 million kilometers) from the Sun.
To ensure a positive power margin, we plan to not contact the spacecraft
from April 11 to April 25, when the spacecraft passes its farthest from the
Sun. Stardust will reach aphelion (its farthest distance from the Sun) on
April 18 at a distance of 2.72 AU.
For more information on the Stardust mission — the first ever
comet sample return mission — please visit the Stardust home page:
