STARDUST Status Report

April 3, 1998

Ken Atkins
STARDUST Project Manager

Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO) activities: ATLO effort continued wrapping the harness, building/installing the main particle "Whipple" shield, installing the CIDA (Cometary and Interstellar Dust Analyzer) keep-alive power (defined last week) converter and preparing for the solar array switching unit (SASU) interface test. Preparations continued for installing the flight solar arrays and for the arrival of many key assemblies for system integration later this month.

The thermal vacuum test on the Sample Return Capsule (SRC) was completed on both hot and cold cycles. This is to ensure assemblies and wiring have a lot of margin for any expected thermal environments on the mission. Additional testing is planned on the deployment mechanisms.

Testing of the Payload & Attitude Control Interface (PACI) board with the Cometary & Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA) electronics simulator and the star camera and IMU simulations continued without problems.

Opportunity and Outreach: Increased distribution of informational bookmarks continued. The Challenger Centers received a supply for their students who will be participating in their "Rendezvous with a Comet" educational experience/event.

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