Entry, Descent, and Landing Operations Analysis for the Stardust Re-Entry Capsule

Abstract

On the morning of January 15, 2006, the Stardust capsule successfully landed at the Utah Test and Training range in northwest Utah returning cometary samples from the comet Wild-2. An overview of the entry, descent, and landing (EDL) trajectory analysis that was performed for targeting during the Stardust Mission Navigation Operations Phase upon final approach to Earth is described. In addition, how the predicted landing location and the resulting overall 99 percentile landing footprint ellipse obtained from a Monte Carlo analysis changed over the final days and hours prior to entry is also presented. The navigation and EDL operations effort accurately delivered the entry capsule to the desired landing site. The final landing location was 8.1 km from the target, which was well within the allowable landing area