STARDUST Status Report
May 22, 1998
Ken Atkins
STARDUST Project Manager
Assembly, Test, and Launch Operations (ATLO) activities: Activities this
past week included the successful first run of the "Aliveness Test."
This test confirms all subsystem interfaces are operational and "healthy."
Also, one spacecraft side panel (+Y) was folded up to allow installation
of the Cometary Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA) sensor. The gold "saxaphone-like"
sensor, delivered this week by the German CIDA team, is clearly visible
in the video picture from Lockheed Martin. Installation and initial testing
went very well. Congratulations to the CIDA team! The silver horn in the
picture is the medium gain antenna...a key element of the telecommunications
subsystem.
Outreach: Public interest in the film "Deep Impact" has continued
to improve public awareness of STARDUST by the film-folk's help in facilitating
the new round of name collections for the second microchip to be flown in
the Sample Return Capsule (SRC). As of May 20, 146,274 names had been collected.
This exceeds the total number of names collected for the first microchip.
As many, many more interested fans join us....a hearty, "Welcome Aboard."
In another familiar setting, the STARDUST Project provided Aerogel for an
interesting exhibit in Disneyland's premier of the New Tomorrowland. The
Official Grand Opening is this Memorial weekend.
On Thursday, there were 109,228 hits to the home page, a new record for
STARDUST! Thanks for looking in! We encourage you to browse through the
site. You can listen to STARDUST-related music by hitting the jukebox in
the STARDUST Cafe, or you can check out some great coloring work by kids
if you click the words "Color me STARDUST" on the "What's
New?" page. You can also find out where comet Wild-2 is right now.
And for newcomers, certainly don't forget the STARDUST name collection form.
And, as you browse, look for the great links to our partner's sites such
as Jason, Challenger Centers, and OmniPlex.
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
