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Stardust Status Report
May 2, 2003

There were two periods of communications with the Stardust spacecraft 
in the past week. Telemetry relayed from the spacecraft indicates it
is healthy and all subsystems continue to operate normally.

Commands were successfully transmitted to the spacecraft to redefine 
the battery 100 percent state of charge definition as the spacecraft 
continues to move closer to the Sun back to Earth's orbit,
resulting in the solar panels producing more power.  The battery 
performance, as expected, has degraded over time and with it a 
reduction in the maximum voltage supplied by the battery.  These 
commands will increase the battery maximum voltage to approximately 
32.5 volts.   The battery state of charge is determined by battery 
pressure, which has now been redefined as 800 psi, increased from 740 
psi.  In early February a test was performed on the battery to 
determine its full value.  The battery reached 900 psi before 
entering its exothermic region where battery temperature increases 
instead of charging.  After the Comet Wild 2 encounter in January
2004, we anticipate raising the 100 percent value again to ensure
there will be sufficient power during the third aphelion when the
spacecraft will reach 2.8 AU from the Sun.

Testing for the Comet Wild 2 encounter under nominal conditions 
continues in the Spacecraft Test Laboratory (STL).  These tests are 
being used to establish a nominal baseline that will ensure a 
faster turn-around when the off-nominal tests are performed. 

Earth-based telescopic observations of Comet Wild 2 are being taken
as approaches its perihelion passage (its closest distance from the
Sun) on September 25 of this year.

Information on the relative positions and orbits of the Stardust
spacecraft and Comet Wild 2 may be found on the "Where Is Stardust
Right Now?" web page located at:

http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/scnow.html

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 .

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