CONTOUR

CONTOUR
The CONTOUR spacecraft approaches the coma of a comet, while another comet is visible in the background.
Artist impression of CONTOUR approaching a comet.
NamesComet Nucleus Tour
Mission typeCometary flyby
OperatorNASA / APL
COSPAR ID2002-034A Edit this at Wikidata
SATCAT no.27457
Websitescience.nasa.gov
Mission duration1 month, 12 days
Spacecraft properties
ManufacturerApplied Physics Laboratory
Launch mass398 kg (877 lb)
Dimensions2.1 × 1.8 × 1.8 m (6.9 × 5.9 × 5.9 ft)
Power670 watts
Start of mission
Launch date3 July 2002, 06:47:41 UTC
RocketDelta II 7425–9.5
D-292
Launch siteCape Canaveral SLC-17
ContractorBoeing
End of mission
DisposalDestroyed
Last contact15 August 2002

The Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) was a NASA Discovery-class space probe that failed shortly after its July 2002 launch. It was the only Discovery mission to fail.

The two comets scheduled to be visited were Encke and Schwassmann-Wachmann-3, and the third target was d'Arrest. It was hoped that a new comet would have been discovered in the inner Solar System between 2006 and 2008, in which case the spacecraft trajectory would have been changed if possible to rendezvous with the new comet. Scientific objectives included imaging the nuclei at resolutions of up to 4 meters (13 ft), performing spectral mapping of the nuclei at resolutions of up to 100 meters (330 ft), and obtaining detailed compositional data on gas and dust in the near-nucleus environment, with the goal of improving knowledge of the characteristics of comet nuclei.

After the solid rocket motor intended to inject the spacecraft into solar orbit was ignited on August 15, 2002, contact with the probe could not be re-established. Ground-based telescopes later found three objects along the course of the satellite, leading to the speculation that it had disintegrated. Attempts to contact the probe were ended on December 20, 2002. The probe thus accomplished none of its primary scientific objectives, but did prove some spaceflight technologies, such as the APL-developed non-coherent Doppler tracking spacecraft navigation technique, which was later used on the New Horizons spacecraft.[1]

  1. ^ Cite error: The named reference DeBoy_2004 was invoked but never defined (see the help page).