Stardust Status Report August 30, 2002
There was one scheduled Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking pass
in the past week and all subsystems are normal.
A test of the Navigation Camera mirror was successfully
completed to see if the mirror would stall, even at the lowest
commandable rates for adjusting its angle. As expected, the
mirror moved at all commanded rates, successfully completing
another in-flight test of a capability that will be needed for
tracking the nucleus of Comet Wild 2 in 2004.
A software patch was successfully installed on the spacecraft
for the Navigation Camera’s pattern-matching and windowing
code. This software searches for up to 11 bright objects in
an image and then sends down only small windows around these
bright objects, reducing the transmitted data by more than
1,000-fold for that image.
An alignment calibration of the Navigation Camera’s mirror
will be performed next week using the new software capability.
Windowed images will be taken at 10-degree increments throughout
the 200 degree range of mirror pointing capability.
For more information on the Stardust mission — the first ever
comet sample return mission — please visit the Stardust
home page:
