Stardust Status Report
June 21, 2002
There were two Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking passes in the past week
and all subsystems are performing normally.
The European Space Agency's new 35-meter (deep space tracking station in
Perth, Australia, called New Norcia) performed its first tracking test
using Stardust's spacecraft signal. During a normal communications session
between the Stardust and the DSN station in Canberra, Australia, the New
Norcia station was also successful in detecting and tracking Stardust's
signal for 2 hours.
A recent study to determine if Stardust flew closely by any of about 50,000
asteroids during the remainder of its mission found that 1,334 asteroids
passed within 0.1 astronomical units (just over 9 million miles, or 15 million
kilometers). Of the closest of these encounters, only the Asteroid 5535
Annefrank flyby occurs before Stardust plans to encounter Comet Wild 2.
After the Comet Wild 2 flyby in 2004, the Stardust spacecraft will be put into
a low maintenance mode until its Earth return in 2006.
For more information on the Stardust mission - the first ever
comet sample return mission - please visit the Stardust home page: