Stardust Spacecraft (of the Stardust NExT mission) Sends images of Comet Temple 1 from within 200km
The Stardust NExT Mission is already a huge success with the comet samples taken from Comet Wild 2. Now Stardust is delivering on its second objectives with its close encounters pictures and analysis of Comet Temple 1!
The Comet Temple 1 as taken from the Stardust spacecraft. One of 72 images that will be taken from distances as close as 200Km!!
PASADENA, Calif. — Mission controllers at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., have begun receiving the first of 72 anticipated images of comet Tempel 1 taken by NASA's Stardust spacecraft.
The first six, most distant approach images are available at http://www.nasa.gov/stardust and http://www.jpl.nasa.gov. Additional images, including those from closest approach, are being down linked in chronological order and will be available later in the day.
A news conference will be held at 12:30 p.m. PST (3:30 p.m. EST) to allow scientists more time to analyze the data and images.
Stardust NExT Sends images of Comet Temple 1
Stardust-NExT is a low-cost mission that expands on the investigation of comet Tempel 1 initiated by NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft. JPL, a division of the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, manages Stardust-NExT for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington, D.C. Joe Veverka of Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y., is the mission's principal investigator. Lockheed Martin Space Systems, Denver, built the spacecraft and manages day-to-day mission operations.
About Stardust-NExT
Now this spacecraft is on a new record-setting mission: a visit to Comet Tempel 1. Comet Tempel 1 was the comet previously targeted by the Deep Impact mission, making Stardust-NExT the first-ever follow-up mission to a comet!
From The JHPL Website at: http://stardustnext.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/sci_objectives.html
Stardust NExT Mission and Science Objectives
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Could comets have brought water to Earth?
Comets preserve important clues to the early history of the solar system. They are believed to have contributed some of the volatiles that make up our oceans and atmosphere. They may even have brought to Earth the complex molecules from which life arose.
For these reasons, the Committee on Planetary and Lunar Exploration (COMPLEX) has emphasized the direct exploration of comets by spacecraft. The investigation of comets also addresses each of the three strategic objectives for solar system exploration enunciated in NASA’s Space Science Enterprise Strategy (SSES) 2003.
- To learn how the solar system originated and evolved to its current state.
- To understand how life begins and determine the characteristics of the solar system that led to the origin of life.
- To catalog and understand the potential impact hazard to Earth from space.
The Stardust-NExT mission will contribute significantly to the first and last of these objectives by obtaining essential new data on Tempel 1 and capitalize on the discoveries of earlier missions such as Deep Impact to determine how cometary nuclei were constructed at the birth of the solar system and increase our understanding of how they have evolved since then.
The Stardust-NExT mission provides NASA with the unique opportunity to study two entirely different comets with the same instrument. By doing this scientist will be able to more accurately compare its existing data set.
The primary science objectives of the mission are as follows:
- To extend our understanding of the processes that affect the surfaces of comet nuclei by documenting the changes that have occurred on comet Tempel 1 between two successive perihelion passages.
- To extend the geologic mapping of the nucleus of Tempel 1 to elucidate the extent and nature of layering and help models of the formation and structure of comet nuclei.
- To extend the study of smooth flow deposits, active areas, and known exposure of water ice.
- On February 14, 2011, at a projected distance of 200 km, the Stardust-NExT spacecraft will obtain high-resolution images of the coma and nucleus, as well as measurements of the composition, size distribution and flux of dust emitted into the coma. Additionally, Stardust-NExT will update the data gathered in 2005 by the Deep Impact mission on the rotational phase of the comet.
Other Objectives:
- If possible, to characterize the crater produced by Deep Impact in July 2005 to better understand the structure and mechanical properties of cometary nuclei and elucidate crater formation processes on them.
- Measure the flux and mass distribution of dust particles within the coma using the DFMI instrument.
- Analyze the composition of dust particles within the coma using the CIDA instrument.
- Monitor comet activity over 60 days on approach using imaging.
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