STARDUST Status Report

November 24, 1999

The STARDUST spacecraft continues to perform normally in cruise. Nine Navigation Camera star images were transmitted to Earth where they are being analyzed in detail. The camera used two different exposures, all 8 filters and moved the mirror to about 90 degrees so that the images were not taken through the periscope. At first look, the star images appear to be dimmer than expected, but more analysis need to be performed before this can be verified. The command load for the next cruise sequence was successfully transmitted to the spacecraft by the flight team at Lockheed Martin Astronautics (LMA). The Lead Scientist of the German Cometary and Interstellar Dust Analyzer (CIDA) instrument visited JPL along with the LMA Flight Systems Manager to review the flight operations of CIDA. CIDA has been performing well.

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