Future Stardust Missions?, What's She Gonna Do Now? |
Future Stardust Missions?, What's She Gonna Do Now? |
Jan 31 2006, 07:50 PM
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Junior Member Group: Members Posts: 21 Joined: 31-January 05 From: Havre, MT Member No.: 163 |
Hi folks...
I read today that Stardust has been placed in hibernation, while in an orbit that reaches out substantially further than Mars. No mention was made regarding future plans. I was curious... since the Dawn mission has been put on hold, is it possible that Stardust will be used to explore any bodies in the Belt? ...John... -------------------- "To make an apple pie from scratch, you must first create the universe..."
-- Carl Sagan |
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Jan 31 2006, 10:22 PM
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Founder Group: Chairman Posts: 14432 Joined: 8-February 04 Member No.: 1 |
The Stardust people seemed quite bold and confident when suggesting such a follow on. I agree - DI is more likely to get an extension that Stardust, but given it's shielding, Stardust could be sent on a fairly do-or-die flyby of another nucleus in a few years. No reason why they can't just hibernate the thing as they have now for 4, 5 years, and wake it up in the way they did for Giotto for another flyby. Even just an imaging sequence would be another set of images of a small body.
Doug |
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Lo-Fi Version | Time is now: 30th April 2024 - 11:58 PM |
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