Stardust SRC entry observing campaign

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NASA Ames Research Center > Space Technology Division > Thermal Protection Materials and Systems > Hypervelocity reentries

All media inquiries for interviews and information are to be coordinated with Mr. John Bluck, Public Affairs Officer at NASA Ames Research Center (1-650-6045026).

Information about Media Pool Products for the Stardust Observation Mission.

Organizing institutes

NASA Ames Research Center. Contact: John Bluck (jbluck [at] mail.arc.nasa.gov)

The SETI Institute. Contact: Karen Randall (krandall [at] seti.org)

NASA Wallops Flight Facility. Contact: Keith A. Koehler (Keith.A.Koehler [at] nasa.gov)

N.S.E.R.C., University of North Dakota. Contact: Peter Johnson (peter.johnson [at] mail.und.nodak.edu)

Instrument P.I.'s

SETI Institute. Contact: Peter Jenniskens (Principal Investigator)
NASA Ames Research Center. Contact: Paul Wercinski
The Aerospace Corporation. Contact: Ray W. Russell
The University of Alaska at Fairbanks. Contact: Hans Stenbaek Nielsen
The U.S. Air Force Academy. Contact: Geoff McHarg
Utah State University at Logan. Contact: Mike Taylor
Sandia National Laboratories. Contact: Richard Spalding
University of New Mexico at Albequerque. Contact: Frans Rietmeijer
University of Kobe, Japan. Contact: Shinsuke Abe
Institut fuer Raumfartsysteme, Universitaet Stuttgart, Germany. Contact: Michael Winter

Video and picture availablity

Media is invited to attend an open house on Wednesday Jan 11, 12:00 - 14:00 PST, at NASA Ames Research Center. Participating researchers will be on standby to show their experiments mounted in the aircraft. The ground-based tracker system will also be available for inspection. Pictures and video of the instruments and operators can be taken at that time. Contact Mr. John Bluck, Public Affairs Officer.

Airborne video and still observations will be processed in flight and are expected to be available shortly after landing at NASA Ames Research Center on January 15, 2006, at 11:53 UT (03:53 PST, 06:53 EST). Contact Mr. John Bluck, Public Affairs Officer.

On request, life video feed can be made available from the ground-based Stardust SRC entry tracker system operated by Ron Dantowitz (see image of tracker on home page). Feeds can be taken from this and broadcast life if a pool can be established to have an upload truck be at Ron's site during the observations. The tracker automatically locks onto Stardust and follows it in progressively larger telescopes while it is descending. The observing team will operate out of Elko, NV, but the observing location will be known only at the day of the event to be able to anticipate adverse weather conditions and move to a clear site. Contact Mr. John Bluck, Public Affairs Officer.