STARDUST Update - April 28, 1998

[Ron Baalke <BAALKE@kelvin.jpl.nasa.gov>]

                           STARDUST Status Report
                               April 24, 1998
                                 Ken Atkins
                          STARDUST Project Manager

The spacecraft assembly effort this week was focused on completing most of
the remaining power harness wrapping for protection in space, completing the
Whipple cometary dust shields for the solar arrays, continuing preparations
to install the flight solar arrays on the spacecraft, and interface testing
of the power electronics and navigation camera.

Work also moved ahead on completing the installation of the Cometary and
Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA) electronics and installation and checkout
of the spacecraft's central computer.

We also completed some final testing on the Sample Return Capsule (SRC)
indicating it is essentially complete and ready for mating with the carrier
spacecraft. With the camera installation, all flight instrument electronics
and the flight Dust Flux Monitor (DFM) are now on the flight spacecraft.

We also received the star cameras this week. These are used to determine the
spacecraft's attitude in deep space. The team also performed some practice
comet encounter simulations involving the CIDA and the navigation camera,
with software simulations for the Inertial Measurement Units (IMUs) and the
Dust Flux Monitor (DFM). Things are beginning to come together as a system.

The project delivered aerogel samples to the California Science Center in
Los Angles on Thursday for an extended display in the museum's "Future
Applications" area.

For more information on the STARDUST mission - the first ever comet sample
return mission - please visit the STARDUST home page:

http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov

---

• Prev by Date: Send Your Name To A Comet!
• Next by Date: Venus "joke"
• Prev by thread: Send Your Name To A Comet!
• Next by thread: Venus "joke"
• Index(es):
  • Main
  • Thread