Stardust Status Report August 3, 2001
There were two Deep Space Network (DSN) Trakcing passes this
week and all subsystems are performing normally. These passes
have been kept simple and at off hours in anticipation
of the Genesis launch planned this week.
The Cometary and Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA)
instrument continues to observe the interstellar dust stream
with an optimal spacecraft attitude when not in communication
with Earth.
The older Silicon Graphics Onyx computer in the
Spacecraft Test Laboratory will be upgraded by
replacing the 200 Mhz processor with a 250 Mhz
processor within the next month. There are still
major issues with this old computer with replacement
options being explored.
For more information on the Stardust mission — the first
ever comet sample return mission — please visit the
Stardust home page:
