STARDUST Status Report

February 27, 1998

Ken Atkins
STARDUST Project Manager

STARDUST Assembly, Test and Launch Operations (ATLO) made good progress this week with telecom interface tests nearing completion today.

A solution was developed for the data transfer problems discovered in the Cometary and Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA) interface testing last month. Plans show the upgraded electronic simulator box arriving from Germany next week to support validating and testing the fix. New ATLO flow plans allowed the CIDA team two weeks of schedule relief for their flight unit delivery.

The flight Sample Return Capsule (SRC) canister bake-out was completed to provide the required clean environment for aerogel collector tray installation. The SRC avionics completed 100 hours burn in and the certification was completed to permit flight installation.

Fault Protection workshop #3 was held this week in order to concentrate on Fault Protection test planning and execution. Results were very good,indicating a thorough test program for the fault protection software.

The flight solar arrays completed functional lighting tests and acoustic test.

The first chip containing public names, letters and pictures has been installed on the SRC avionics deck.

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/