Back on track

NASA’s Deep Space 1 spacecraft has returned to its senses and is on course
for a rendezvous with a comet. The spacecraft lost its bearings in November when
its star-tracking camera failed. Last month, engineers beamed software to Deep
Space 1 that allowed it to orientate using its science camera
(New Scientist, 27 May, p 19).
The spacecraft is now firing its thrusters on
course for Comet Borrelly, which it should reach in September 2001. “This rescue
is one for the history books,” says project manager Marc Rayman of NASA’s Jet
Propulsion Laboratory.