CONTOUR
Begins Implementation Phase
2/10/00
The
Discovery Program is pleased to announce that the Comet Nucleus
Tour, or CONTOUR, mission has passed its February 3rd Confirmation
Review at NASA Headquarters and has been given approval to
proceed to the implementation phase.
After
successful completion of both the Preliminary Design Review
and an independent Confirmation Assessment, the comet flyby
mission is well on its way toward completing the spacecraft
design.
Planned
for a July 2002 launch, CONTOUR is timed to encounter and
study Comet Encke in November, 2003, and Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann-3
in June, 2006. The mission has the flexibility to include
a flyby of Comet d'Arrest in 2008, or to retarget itself to
approach an unforeseen cometary visitor to the inner solar
system. Mission scientists would relish the opportunity to
study a newly discovered comet, similar to Comet Hale-Bopp
which was discovered by amateur astronomers in 1995.
The
nucleus of a comet is its heart, believed by scientists to
be a tiny irregular chunk of ice and rock. To date only one
comet nucleus has ever been viewed with a spacecraft: Comet
Halley in 1986. CONTOUR will fly past at least two comets
and take far better pictures than those of Halley. It will
also collect and analyze dust and gas to reveal the comet's
makeup, greatly improving our knowledge of key characteristics
of comet nuclei and providing an assessment of their diversity.
CONTOUR will also clear up the many mysteries of how comets
evolve as they approach the Sun and their ices begin to evaporate.
The
CONTOUR spacecraft will fly by each comet at the peak of its
activity, close to the Sun. During each encounter, the target
comet will also be well situated in the night sky for astronomers
worldwide to make concurrent observations from the ground.
The CONTOUR spacecraft will fly by each comet at a distance
of about 100 kilometers (60 miles). The most intensive data
taking will occur within a day or so of each encounter.
Go
to the CONTOUR website
for more information about the mission.
Go to 2000 News Articles Archive
