Two NASA spacecraft now have new assignments after
\nsuccessfully completing their missions. The duo will make new
\nobservations of comets and characterize extrasolar planets. Stardust
\nand Deep Impact will use their flight-proven hardware to perform new,
\npreviously unplanned, investigations. <\/p>\n
“These mission extensions are as exciting as it gets. They will allow
\nus to revisit a comet for the first time, add another to the list of
\ncomets explored and make a search for small planets around stars with
\nknown large planets. And by using existing spacecraft in flight, we
\ncan accomplish all of this for only about 15 percent of the cost of
\nstarting a new mission from scratch,” said Alan Stern, associate
\nadministrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Headquarters,
\nWashington. “These new mission assignments for veteran spacecraft
\nrepresent not only creative thinking and planning, but are also a
\nprime example of getting more from the budget we have.” <\/p>\n
The EPOXI mission melds two compelling science investigations — the
\nDeep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI) and the Extrasolar Planet
\nObservation and Characterization (EPOCh). Both investigations will be
\nperformed using the Deep Impact spacecraft, which finished its prime
\nmission in 2005. <\/p>\n
\nDIXI will involve a flyby of comet Boethin, which has never been
\nexplored. Boethin is a small, short period comet, or one that returns
\nfrequently to the inner solar system, from beyond Jupiter’s orbit.
\nThis investigation will allow the recovery of some of the science
\nlost with the 2002 failure of the COmet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR)
\nmission that was designed to make comparative studies of multiple
\ncomets. DIXI will be targeted to fly by comet Boethin December 5,
\n2008.<\/p>\n
The EPOCh investigation also will use the Deep Impact spacecraft to
\nobserve several nearby bright stars, watching as the giant planets
\nalready known to be orbiting the stars pass in front of and then
\nbehind them. The collected data will be used to characterize the
\ngiant planets and to determine whether they possess rings, moons, or
\nEarth-sized planetary companions. EPOCh’s sensitivity will exceed
\nboth current ground and space-based observatory capabilities. EPOCh
\nalso will measure the mid-infrared spectrum of the Earth, providing
\ncomparative data for future efforts to study the atmospheres of
\nextrasolar planets. This search for extrasolar planets will be made
\nthis year, en route to comet Boethin. <\/p>\n
Michael A’Hearn of the University of Maryland, College Park, is
\nEPOXI’s principal investigator and the leader of the DIXI science
\nteam. L. Drake Deming of NASA’s Goddard Space Flight Center, in
\nGreenbelt, Md., is EPOXI’s deputy principal investigator and leads
\nthe EPOCh investigation.<\/p>\n
John Mather, Chief Scientist for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate,
\nsaid, “EPOXI is a wonderful opportunity to add to our growing body of
\nknowledge of exoplanets. Watching planets go behind or in front of
\ntheir parent stars can tell us about their atmospheric chemistry.” <\/p>\n
The other newly selected Discovery mission of opportunity is called
\nNew Exploration of Tempel 1 (NExT). The mission will reuse NASA’s
\nStardust spacecraft to revisit comet Tempel 1. This investigation
\nwill provide the first look at the changes to a comet nucleus
\nproduced after its close approach to the sun. It will mark the first
\ntime a comet has ever been revisited. NExT also will extend the
\nmapping of Tempel 1, making it the most mapped comet nucleus to date.
\nThis mapping will help address the major questions of comet nucleus
\n“geology” raised by images of areas where it appears material might
\nhave flowed like a liquid or powder. The images were returned by Deep
\nImpact from its encounter with the comet on July 4, 2005. NExt is
\nscheduled to fly by Tempel 1 on Feb. 14, 2011. <\/p>\n
Joseph Veverka of Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, is NExT’s principal
\ninvestigator. <\/p>\n
Stardust launched in Feb. 7, 1999. It traveled over 2 billion miles to
\nfly within 150 miles of the comet Wild 2 in January 2004 to bring
\nback samples that may provide new insights into the composition of
\ncomets and how they vary from one another. The container with the
\ncomet samples returned to Earth in January 2006 while the rest of the
\nspacecraft remained in space.<\/p>\n
Created in 1992, NASA’s Discovery Program sponsors frequent,
\ncost-capped solar system exploration missions with highly focused
\nscientific goals. In 2006, NASA received approximately two dozen
\nproposals in response to an Announcement of Opportunity for Discovery
\nmissions and Missions of Opportunity. Proposals were evaluated for
\nscientific merit, technical, management and cost feasibility. <\/p>\n
For more information about the Discovery Program, visit:
\nhttp:\/\/discovery.nasa.gov <\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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