STARDUST Status Report

June 9, 2000

There were seven Deep Space Network (DSN) tracking passes during the past week. All subsystems onboard the spacecraft are performing normally. These DSN passes were used to obtain tracking data for the Navigation Team to reconstruct Trajectory Correction Maneuver 3 (TCM 3) as well as continue to study the small forces acting upon the STARDUST spacecraft when the attitude jets fire.

During TCM 3, direct data paths from the nominal DSN tracking stations to JPL were not operating properly; therefore STARDUST data were routed through the Emergency Control Center (ECC) at Goldstone, the first use of this new facility.

Five more Navigation Camera images were downlinked, bringing the total number of images sent to the ground at approximately twenty-six out of the 28.

Eight members of the STARDUST Project actively supported the JPL Open House this past weekend, describing missions to small bodies to the public, including STARDUST.

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