CONTOUR
Sign in to saveThe 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.
Key facts
- Spaceflight.name
- CONTOUR
- Spaceflight.names_list
- Comet Nucleus Tour
- Spaceflight.image
- Contour comet.jpg
- Spaceflight.image_caption
- Artist impression of CONTOUR approaching a comet.
- Spaceflight.image_alt
- The CONTOUR spacecraft approaches the coma of a comet, while another comet is visible in the background.
- Spaceflight.image_size
- 300px
- Spaceflight.mission_type
- Cometary flyby
- Spaceflight.operator
- NASA / APL
- Spaceflight.COSPAR_ID
- 2002-034A
- Spaceflight.SATCAT
- 27457
- Spaceflight.website
- science.nasa.gov
- Spaceflight.manufacturer
- Applied Physics Laboratory
- Spaceflight.power
- 670 watts
- Spaceflight.launch_date
- 3 July 2002, 06:47:41 UTC
- Spaceflight.launch_rocket
- Delta II 7425–9.5D-292
- Spaceflight.launch_site
- Cape Canaveral SLC-17
- Spaceflight.launch_contractor
- Boeing
- Spaceflight.disposal_type
- Destroyed
via Wikipedia infobox
Article
13 sectionsContents
- Spacecraft
- Design and construction
- Spacecraft subsystems
- Power
- Communications and data
- Propulsion and guidance
- Scientific payload
- Mission
- Investigation into failure
- Proposed reflight
- See also
- References
- External links
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 , performing spectral mapping of the nuclei at resolutions of up to , 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.