Stardust Status Report July 3, 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.
The 1 Astronomical Unit (AU) Engineering Activities have successfully
concluded.
Two sets of deadband walks were implemented during 1 AU testing: 20
walks from / back to Earth point of 5 degrees; and 20 walks from / back
to Earth point of 15 degrees. Both sets of walks were completed
successfully and, as predicted, initial results show that the small
forces errors were less than 1 cm/second over the entire set of walks.
Analysis will continue, and the final assessment will be made on the
project’s expected ability to meet the Entry, Descent & Landing (EDL)
accuracy requirements for Earth return in 2006.
Currently, all spacecraft testing results look favorable. It is
expected that some calibrations will be repeated post encounter,
during Earth approach to recalibrate and characterize the current
maneuver performance.
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:
