After nearly two years of detailed development and assembly, engineers at The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) in Laurel, Maryland, are putting the last touches on the Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft, which will provide the closest and most detailed look ever into a comet.

Slated to launch July 1, 2002, CONTOUR will encounter at least two diverse comets as they zip through the inner solar system. From as close as 100 miles (160 kilometers), the spacecraft will snap high-resolution photos of the comet nucleus, map the types of rock and ice on the nucleus, and analyze the composition of the surrounding gas and dust. CONTOUR's targets include comet Encke in November 2003 and Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 in June 2006, though if an opportunity arises, the mission team can send the spacecraft to an as-yet undiscovered comet.

CONTOUR Spacecraft

Currently in an APL clean room, CONTOUR has had all its onboard systems tested, including four scientific instruments, two cameras, a dust analyzer and a mass spectrometer. Over the next week, APL technicians will attach solar panels and the final layers of the dust shield which is designed to protect CONTOUR from bullet-like particles around the comets.

Environmental testing on the craft begins January 14 on APL's large vibration tables. On January 28, CONTOUR will ship to NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center in Greenbelt, Maryland, for nearly three months of additional tests in Goddard's expansive facilities. In May, CONTOUR will leave Goddard for Kennedy Space Center, Florida, in final preparation for launch aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket.

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