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Mission Status 2009
Kevin V. Gilliland Stardust Spacecraft Team
March 25, 2009
All subsystems are nominal. Stardust had several contacts this week. The spacecraft is now using the High Gain Antenna (HGA) for downlink. Safe Mode parameters have been updated, from the post-Earth flyby configuration to the nominal cruise configuration.The Systems and Real-Time Operations engineers worked to retransmit some data that had been lost before our more than 7 weeks out of contact. The retransmit commanding was successful, and the Navigation team now has a complete record of thruster firings since the beginning of the NExT mission in 2007.
Background sequence SN022 is executing now. Sequence SN023 development will begin next week.
March 19, 2009
All subsystems are nominal.
Stardust made contact today, its first contact in more than 7 weeks. The Sun-Spacecraft-Earth geometry now supports downlink using the Medium Gain Antenna (MGA). Following the January Earth flyby, downlink required the range-limited Low Gain Antenna (LGA). Commands were sent today in preparation for using attitude control (RCS) thrusters 5-8. The valve fueling RCS thrusters 5-8 was opened, and their catalyst bed heaters were turned on. In April, we will send commands to use RCS thrusters 5-8 for deadbanding control. Since launch, RCS thrusters 1-4 have been used for all deadbanding control. Because Stardust has been in flight for more than 10 years, RCS thrusters 1-4 have been used longer than their originally planned life. The team would like to begin using the relatively fresh set of RCS thrusters as we cruise to Tempel-1. Background sequence SN021 is executing now. Sequence SN022 is on board and will become active Sunday evening, March 23.
February 4, 2009
All subsystems are nominal. Today's contact was the last using Stardust's Low Gain Antenna (LGA). The spacecraft is approximately 11,500,000 km from Earth, and is nearing the limit of the LGA range. Stardust will be able to communicate using the Medium Gain Antenna (MGA) beginning March 19, 2009, when the Earth-spacecraft-Sun angle becomes favorable. Background sequence SN020 is executing now. Sequence SN021 is on board and will become active Sunday evening, February 15. Saturday, February 7, marks the 10th anniversary of the spacecraft launch. This very successful Discovery mission has included spectacular images of comet Wild-2 and asteroid Annefrank, and a flawless capsule landing. The durability of the hardware and economy of operations continues; we are now just 2 years from another comet encounter.
NExT Update: January 28, 2009
Two weeks after the Earth Gravity Assist, the spacecraft continues to operate nominally. Communication with the spacecraft is currently through the LGA. This will continue until February 7, when the range will exceed the capability of the LGA, and the MGA will not be available due to the sun-spacecraft-earth angle. This blackout period will last until March 19, when the angle becomes favorable. The command loss timer and other parameters have been updated to accommodate this period.
