Stardust Status Report

September 13, 2002

All of Stardust's subsystems are performing normally. The spacecraft had two periods of radio contact through JPL's Deep Space Network this week.

Approximately 60 percent of a recent image from the Navigation Camera has been received. The image is of the camera's calibration lamp. Preliminary indications suggest that some contamination has reappeared on the camera's light-sensing electronic surface -- the charge-coupled device. The amount of contamination is significantly less than on previous occasions. If deemed necessary, heaters will be used to remove it. Only one day of heating was needed to remove the last, more severe, contamination.

The Spacecraft Test Laboratory performed its first Comet Wild 2 encounter test run.

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