The Stardust New Exploration of Tempel 1, or NExT, project has a number of unique and exciting features. The repurposing of this very capable spacecraft accomplishes the mission for about 15% of the cost of starting a new mission from scratch. The opportunity to flyby and view comet Tempel 1 in 2011, six years after its collision with the Deep Impact impactor, will give scientists the first look at the changes to a comet nucleus produced after a close approach to the Sun. As it flies within 120 miles of the comet, it may also provide a look at the crater generated by the impact but obscured from view by the extensive dust created at the time. |
BACKGROUND
The Stardust spacecraft launched in 1999 and collected interstellar dust particles during 2000 and 2002. On January 2, 2004, it flew within 149 miles of comet Wild 2 where it captured comet dust in its aerogel-filled collector grid and took detailed pictures of the comet's surface. Two years later the sample return capsule returned to Earth. Scientists analyzing the returned dust particles have been thrilled and surprised by their findings. Meanwhile, the spacecraft continued its journey through deep space. A Deep Space Maneuver was executed on October 10, 2007, to aim for an Earth flyby in January 2009, sending the spacecraft toward its new target.
Donald Brownlee, Stardust principal investigator, flashes a victory sign for the successful arrival of Stardust material to the Johnson Space Center cleanroom. |
During this time in another region of space, the two-part Deep Impact spacecraft achieved its objective when the larger “flyby” spacecraft released a smaller “impactor” spacecraft into the path of comet Tempel 1on July 4, 2005. Scientists have gained a vast amount of knowledge from this encounter, but new questions have been raised by the discoveries they have made. The new observations by Stardust will be performed with a different set of instrument, offering an unprecedented opportunity to add to the body of cometary knowledge.
The composite image from the Impactor Targeting Sensor instrument shows three ice-rich regions in blue hues, located near locally cold regions. This is the first finding of water ice on the surface of a comet. |
SCIENCE OBJECTIVES
Stardust-NExTwill flyby comet Tempel 1 on February 14, 2011, to complete the exploration initiated by Deep Impact by:
- obtaining high resolution images of the coma, nucleus, and jet at resolutions as high as 12 m/pixel
- measuring the composition, size, distribution, and flux of dust emitted into the coma
The mission plan offers high probabilities of viewing significant portions of the hemisphere studied by Deep Impact in 2005 and imaging the crater made by its impactor.
MISSION MANAGEMENT
Dr. Joseph Veverka of Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, is NExT's principal investigator. NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA, manages the project. Lockheed Martin Astronautics of Denver, CO, built the spacecraft.
A Discovery Mission of Opportunity is not a complete Discovery Mission, but is part of a larger mission or an extension of completed mission. It gives the U.S. scientific community the chance to participate in non-NASA missions by providing funding for a science instrument, hardware components of a science instrument, or expertise in critical areas of a mission. It also offers the opportunity to re-purpose an existing NASA spacecraft that has completed its prime mission.
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