January 13, 2009
Stealth Stardust-NExT Close Flyby of Earth Tomorrow
"On Jan. 14, NASA's Stardust-NExT spacecraft will fly by Earth during a gravity assist maneuver that will increase its velocity and sling shot the spacecraft into an orbit to meet up with comet Tempel 1 in February 2011. Flight operations for the spacecraft are performed from Lockheed Martin's Mission Support Area in Denver, Colo. The Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif. provides the precision navigation need for the flyby and the journey to Tempel 1. The Lockheed Martin-built spacecraft's closest approach will happen at 12:33 p.m. MST as it comes within 5,690 miles (9,157 km) of Earth. At its closest point, the spacecraft will fly over the California/Mexico border south of San Diego at a speed of approximately 22,400 miles per hour (36,000 kilometer per hour)."
Editor's note: NASA PAO doesn't seem to be aware of this cool flyby. There is no mention here or here at these official NASA Stardust websites or at JPL's main site. Oh well, at least Lockheed Martin is paying attention.
Posted by kcowing at January 13, 2009 4:16 PM
From the people who brought you Mars Climate Orbiter -- of course, all using consistent units this time.
Posted by: Bruce at January 13, 2009 5:24 PMIt's true there's no info at any of the three sites listed. However, that's partially because you're looking at the defunct page for the original Stardust mission. The proper home page for the Stardust-NExT extended mission is http://stardustnext.jpl.nasa.gov/
Editor's note: Interesting because you do not find that page if you follow NASA's official Stardust NExT page at http://nasascience.nasa.gov/missions/stardust-next that points to http://stardust.jpl.nasa.gov/home/index.html and there is still no mention on JPL's home page, none on NASA's home page, and no press release or media advisory. The lgoical thing to do in this case is to Google "Stardust-NExT" or "Stardust NExT" - when I do I do not get this other site you mention in the search results.
