Stardust Status Report

November 1, 2002

All commands related to Stardust's flyby of asteroid Annefrank have been transmitted to the spacecraft, and operations for the approach to Annefrank have begun. Stardust is using the November 2 flyby of Annefrank to test many of the procedures the spacecraft will use during the upcoming encounter with Comet Wild 2 in 2004.

The spacecraft is operating in good health. It had two periods of radio contact with Earth this week through the antennas of the Deep Space Network.

Command products for sequence 50, an upcoming portion of Stardust's journey toward Comet Wild 2, are in final review and will be sent to the spacecraft after the Annefrank flyby.

About 3,500 educators had the opportunity to learn about Stardust during the California Science Teachers Association conference in San Francisco last week. New Stardust exhibits have been unveiled at the Fleishmann Planetarium in Reno, Nevada, and at the Technical Center in San Jose, California. The Deep Space Network has developed a Spanish-language postcard about Stardust and the network. Disneyland, in Anaheim, California, plans to update its "Tomorrow's Technology" display to include a new cube of aerogel.

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