Testing of the star camera was started late Monday, March 8, to prepare for its use in tracking so that the spacecraft will not have to rely on its gyro system, called an inertial measurement unit, to control its orientation in space. Such fault-protection software is used on all of NASA's robotic spacecraft to ensure a controlled response to unplanned events or anomalies. This protects the spacecraft and allows engineers to find any problems, develop solutions and resume routine operations. The flight operations team moved back to communications with the spacecraft over the low-gain antenna and verified that the spacecraft was in its expected state and in excellent health. Late Tuesday, March 8, the spacecraft's data history on the testing was radioed to mission controllers so that a detailed tracing could be performed to identify the cause of the data error and subsequent triggering of the spacecraft's fault protection system.
Detailed analysis is underway to understand the suspect operation and correct it.
Stardust's objectives are to gather particles flying off the nucleus of Comet Wild-2 and return them to Earth for scientific analysis, and to collect and return samples of interstellar dust flowing through our solar system. Stardust is the first spacecraft ever launched on a mission to bring back material from beyond the Moon. It is also the first U.S. mission to a comet. Stardust's sample return capsule is due to parachute into Earth's atmosphere and land on the U.S. military's Utah Test and Training Range near Salt Lake City on January 15, 2006. The spacecraft was built and is operated by Lockheed Martin Astronautics, Denver, and is managed for NASA by the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, California.