Stardust On Course For Comet Flyby

TECH SPACE

so far a very successful spacecraft that should be part of an evolving deep space exploration vehicle

Pasadena - Jun 22, 2003
198 days before its historic rendezvous with a comet, NASA's Stardust spacecraft successfully completed the mission's third deep space maneuver. This critical maneuver modified the spacecraft's trajectory, placing it on a path to encounter and collect dust samples from comet Wild 2 in January 2004.

At 2100 Universal Time (2:00 p.m. Pacific Time), Wed., June 18, Stardust fired its eight, 4.4 newton (1 pound) thrusters for a grand total of 1456 seconds, changing the comet sampler's speed by 34.4 meters per second (about 77 miles per hour).

This burn, the second in two days, completed the almost seven-year-long mission's third deep space maneuver. The June 18 burn required 6.08 kilograms (13.4 pounds) of hydrazine monopropellant to complete. At launch, the spacecraft carried 85 kilograms (187 pounds) of hydrazine propellant.

"It was a textbook maneuver," said Robert Ryan, Stardust's mission manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "This was the last big burn we will have prior to our encounter with Wild 2, and it looks very accurate. After sifting through all the post-burn data I expect we will find ourselves right on the money."

Stardust has traveled over 2.9 billion kilometers (1.8 billion miles) since its February 7, 1999 launch. At present, it is hurtling through the cosmos at 124,300 kilometers per hour (77,200 miles per hour).

In January 2004, Stardust will fly through the halo of dust that surrounds the nucleus of comet Wild 2. The spacecraft will return to Earth in January 2006 to make a soft landing at the U.S. Air Force Utah Test and Training Range.

Its sample return capsule, holding microscopic particles of comet and interstellar dust, will be taken to the planetary material curatorial facility at NASA's Johnson Space Center, Houston, Texas, where the samples will be carefully stored and examined.

Stardust's cometary and interstellar dust samples will help provide answers to fundamental questions about the origins of the solar system, and is part of NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost, highly focused science missions.

EXO WORLDS

Stardust Powers Up While It's Hot

Pasadena - May 07, 2003
There were two periods of communications with the Stardust spacecraft in the past week. Telemetry relayed from the spacecraft indicates it is healthy and all subsystems continue to operate normally.

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