"We sang our spacecraft to sleep today with a melody of digital ones and zeros," said Tom Duxbury, Stardust project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. "Stardust has performed flawlessly these last seven years and 2.88 billion miles and deserves a rest for a while, like the rest of the team."
The "song" was actually a series of commands that was sent up to the spacecraft yesterday, Jan. 29 at 4 p.m. Pacific time (7 p.m. Eastern time). The commands deactivated all but a few essential systems, such as Stardust's solar arrays and receive antenna - which will remain powered on. This long-term hibernation state could allow for almost indefinite (tens of years) out-of-contact operations while maintaining the spacecraft health.
"Placing Stardust in hibernation gives us options to possibly reuse it in the future," said Dr. Tom Morgan, Stardust Program Executive at NASA Headquarters, Washington. "The mission has already been a great success, but if at all possible we may want to add even more scientific dividends to this remarkable mission's record of achievement."
The Stardust spacecraft is currently in an orbit that travels from a little closer to the Sun than that of the Earth to well beyond the orbit of Mars. It will next fly past Earth on January 14, 2009, at a distance of about 1 million kilometers (621,300 miles).
NASA's Stardust sample return mission successfully concluded its prime mission on Jan. 15, 1006, when its sample return capsule carrying cometary and interstellar particles successfully touched down at 2:10 a.m. Pacific time (3:10 a.m. Mountain time) in the desert salt flats of the Utah Test and Training Range.
Stardust scientists at NASA's Johnson Space Center in Houston are currently analyzing what could be considered a treasure-trove of cometary and interstellar dust samples that exceeded their grandest expectations. Scientists believe these precious samples will help provide answers to fundamental questions about comets and the origins of the solar system.
Source: NASA
Related stories:
NASA Stardust Capsule To Go On Display At Smithsonian
(PhysOrg.com) -- Having returned the world's first particles from a comet, NASA's Stardust sample return capsule will join the collection of flight icons in the Smithsonian's National Air and Space Museum in Washington. The capsule will go on public display in the museum's Milestones of Flight Gallery on Oct. 1, the 50th anniversary of NASA.
Stardust comet dust resembles asteroid materials
Contrary to expectations for a small icy body, much of the comet dust returned by the Stardust mission formed very close to the young sun and was altered from the solar system’s early materials.
U of M physicist reads the history of the solar system in grains of comet dust
Four years ago, NASA's Stardust spacecraft chased down a comet and collected grains of dust blowing off its nucleus. When the spacecraft Comet Wild-2 returned, comet dust was shipped to scientists all over the world, including University of Minnesota physics professor Bob Pepin. After testing helium and neon trapped in the dust specks, Pepin and his colleagues report that while the comet formed in the icy fringes of the solar system, the dust appears to have been born close to the infant sun and bombarded by intense radiation from these and other gases before being flung out beyond Neptune and trapped in the comet. The research appears in the Jan. 4 issue of the journal Science.
Blowing a Hole in a Comet: Take 2
Two years ago, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft blasted a hole in Comet Tempel 1, offering researchers their first look inside a comet. One small problem: The cloud of debris was so thick no one could clearly see the crater. But now the dust has cleared and another NASA spacecraft is returning to the scene to examine the hole Deep Impact wrought.
Cassini Prepares to Fly by Walnut-Shaped Moon
Cassini will make its only close flyby of Saturn's odd, two-toned, walnut-shaped moon Iapetus on Sept. 10, 2007, at about 1,640 kilometers (1,000 miles) from the surface.
Key 'Stardust' spacecraft find questioned
Spanish scientists say one of the major discoveries from last year's "Stardust" space mission might have resulted from rocket booster contamination.
Proposed Mission Will Return Sample from Near-Earth Object
A menacing lump of rock and dust in space called 10195 (1999 RQ36) would barely be noticed except for two crucial facts: First, "It's a treasure trove of organic material, so it holds clues to how Earth formed and life got started," said Joseph Nuth of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md. Second, it regularly crosses Earth's orbit, so it might impact us someday.
Synchrotrons Help Reveal the Nature of Comets
Cometary particles returned to Earth by the Stardust spacecraft are yielding precious information about the origin of the solar system, thanks in part to a collaboration that includes the Stanford Synchrotron Radiation Laboratory (SSRL) and several other of the world's synchrotron light-source facilities.
