Thank you for visiting the Deep Space 1 mission status information site, the most widely respected log in the inner solar system and the most envied site in the outer solar system for information on this technology validation mission. This message was logged in at 8:35 pm Pacific Time on Monday, November 30.

Deep Space 1 is in powered flight. The ion propulsion system on DS1 has been thrusting smoothly and gently since shortly before 3:00 pm Pacific Time on Tuesday, November 24. This system can be throttled, with higher throttle levels drawing more electrical power and delivering more thrust. With DS1's design, the minimum throttle level is 0 and the maximum is 111, although it has never been planned that the highest throttle levels would be reached. The spacecraft does not have enough electrical power to drive the ion engine at the highest levels, but for this technology validation mission, the highest levels are unnecessary. When the thruster started last week, it was at level 6. On Wednesday, November 25, the operations team brought the ion propulsion system to level 27 and then later to level 48. The thruster operated extremely well and the team decided to try to let the system continue thrusting at throttle level 27 during the 4-day holiday weekend. This was an ambitious test and would have resulted in the thruster operating for a longer uninterrupted time than had previously been planned for this early in the mission. As it turned out, the ion propulsion system operated perfectly over the subsequent days, and DS1 has now operated its thruster for a much longer uninterrupted time than any deep space probe. The data that are being returned are extremely valuable, and this is an important step in DS1's charter of evaluating high-risk technologies critical for NASA's future space science missions.

Now that the thruster has operated for some time, this morning the operations team raised the throttle level to 48 again to collect data to determine whether there are any changes in its performance from when it was operated at that level 5 days earlier. Following that, the thruster was commanded to throttle levels 69, then 83, and finally 90, with data being collected on its behavior at each level. The spacecraft and the ion propulsion system continued to work extremely well. At throttle level 90, it appeared that the spacecraft was near its limit for providing power to the ion propulsion system, so it was throttled back to level 83 and is being left there overnight. The thruster probably will be turned off later in the week to allow other technology validation activities. Until your loyal correspondent updates this message however, you can rest assured that the ion propulsion system is propelling DS1.

This ion propulsion system is one of 12 advanced technologies being validated on DS1. The system is a product of the NASA NSTAR program, a cooperative effort between JPL and the Lewis Research Center. The industrial participants in this exciting technology are Hughes Electron Dynamics Division; Moog Inc.; Spectrum Astro Inc.; and Physical Science Inc.

Important data were collected on DS1's advanced solar array today which provides the electrical power to operate the ion propulsion system and the rest of the spacecraft. That array uses 720 lenses to focus sunlight onto high efficiency solar cells to generate electricity. The solar array was provided to NASA by BMDO and was developed by AEC-Able Engineering, Entech, and NASA's Lewis Research Center. The solar cells on the array were manufactured by Tecstar.

While the spacecraft was thrusting today, commands were sent to open the partially transparent cover on the combination camera/imaging spectrometer. Some images have already been collected from this advanced technology for preliminary engineering analysis, and opening the protective cover will clear the way for later tests.

Deep Space 1 is now more than 15 times as far away from Earth as the moon. Radio signals, traveling at the universal limit of the speed of light, take about 40 seconds to make the round trip. JPL astronomers managed to take a picture of the diminutive craft using one of the world's largest telescopes on Palomar Mountain on November 16 when DS1 was at a distance of 3.7 million kilometers or 2.3 million miles from Earth. The reflected sunlight from the spacecraft was 4 million times dimmer than our humble eyes could detect. You can see the picture by visiting the Press Releases/Images page.