STARDUST Status Report

January 7, 2000

The Trajectory Correction Maneuver A (TCM-A) was performed nearly flawless on December 28, with less than one-sigma errors in both maneuver magnitude and pointing. The timeline was followed to the second, and communication was re-established with the spacecraft after the maneuver as planned. All subsystems performed as predicted with the battery discharge being 3% less than predicted. An apparent 3 cm shift in the spacecraft center of mass location from the pre-launch model was observed and is under study. A review of TCM-A was held with independent peer reviewers participating as part of the preparation for Deep Space Maneuver-1 (DSM-1). It was decided to perform this maneuver in three parts, on January 18, 20 and 22. The timeline for DSM-1 was reviewed and the process of exchanging data files between navigation, maneuver and the spacecraft team has begun. The Flight Software (FSW) patch needed to go to All-Stellar attitude was commanded to the spacecraft on January 3, and the spacecraft was placed in Dual Mode and then All-Stellar mode for a few hours to monitor the performance of the FSW patch. A few multiple firings of the Attitude Control System (ACS) jets were recorded which the patch was supposed to fix. Therefore, the spacecraft did not transition to All-Stellar attitude this week, but the flight team will repeat the Dual Mode and All-Stellar tests and Spacecraft Test Laboratory (STL) testing to determine why the patch allowed multiple firings. This will delay going All-Stellar until after DSM-1. 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