STARDUST Status Report

April 17, 1998

Ken Atkins
STARDUST Project Manager

Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO) activities: The pre-ATLO testing of the Cometary & Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA) was completed and the flight electronics box has been installed on the spacecraft. The navigation camera was delivered, bench-tested including full camera functional and end-to-end data flow testing and installation is planned for today. The ATLO Test Unit (ATU) aerogel collector, partially loaded with examples of flight quality aerogel, was delivered to Lockheed Martin. The ATU is a pathfinder for handling and contamination control procedures to be used on the flight unit later this year. These deliveries signal that all flight instrument electronics are delivered to ATLO with significant interface testing behind them. Good progress was also achieved this week on spacecraft avionics, holding schedules for deliveries next week.

Outreach: Live video hook up between JPL and the National Science Teachers Conference in Las Vegas, Nevada, allowed a full schedule of Question & Answer interactions with Teachers visiting the Challenger Center's booth in the exhibit hall on Friday. Project personnel at JPL took half-hour segments in the Stardust JPL Mission Support Area (MSA).

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