The Stardust spacecraft survived a close encounter with a storm of high-energy particles from the Sun after a recent solar flare, thanks to quick-thinking action by the team's engineers and scientists.

Stardust was 1.4 AU (130 million miles) from the Sun on November 9, flying more than 12,000 miles per hour, when a stream of high-energy protons hit the spacecraft. It was the fourth largest solar flare since 1976, and it temporarily blinded the spacecraft. Its two star cameras, which control the spacecraft's orientation, got a large dose of energy, electrifying pixels in the star cameras and producing dots that the camera interpreted as stars. The 12 brightest ../../../images, which the spacecraft relies on to point its way, showed up as false stars. Hundreds of these star-like ../../../images inundated the star camera's field of view, which meant it could not recognize its attitude in space.

The spacecraft did the safest thing it could - it went into standby mode, turning its solar panels toward the Sun and waiting for communication from Earth. While it was waiting, the spacecraft tried unsuccessfully to determine its attitude by using two different sets of cameras. It began to slowly rotate in place, pointing its solar panels at the Sun.

When the flight team didn't hear from Stardust upon attempting to communicate with it the next morning, they deduced that the solar flare had caused it to go into standby mode, and they knew that meant the spacecraft would send a signal within 24 hours. Their theory was confirmed when they reviewed data from the spacecraft that verified the problems began when the solar flare occurred..

On November 11th, the flight team reset the first star camera and turned it back on. They used another method of orienting the spacecraft, called inertial measuring units, while they inspected the cameras. Engineers retrieved the last ../../../images the camera took before the spacecraft reset itself and saw hundreds of false star ../../../images.

Two days later, the flight team commanded the spacecraft to leave its safe mode. The star camera was back on the job, controlling the orientation of the spacecraft perfectly. The engineers retrieved more data to ensure the entire spacecraft had not been affected by the solar flare. An image taken days after the solar flare subsided shows that the camera had completely recovered from the proton hits.

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