[meteorite-list] NASA Gives Two Successful Spacecraft New Assignments (Stardust & Deep Impact)

[Ron Baalke]

July 3, 2007

Grey Hautaluoma/Tabatha Thompson
Headquarters, Washington 
202-358-0668/3895

RELEASE: 07-147

NASA GIVES TWO SUCCESSFUL SPACECRAFT NEW ASSIGNMENTS

WASHINGTON -- Two NASA spacecraft now have new assignments after 
successfully completing their missions. The duo will make new 
observations of comets and characterize extrasolar planets. Stardust 
and Deep Impact will use their flight-proven hardware to perform new, 
previously unplanned, investigations. 

"These mission extensions are as exciting as it gets. They will allow 
us to revisit a comet for the first time, add another to the list of 
comets explored and make a search for small planets around stars with 
known large planets. And by using existing spacecraft in flight, we 
can accomplish all of this for only about 15 percent of the cost of 
starting a new mission from scratch," said Alan Stern, associate 
administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Headquarters, 
Washington. "These new mission assignments for veteran spacecraft 
represent not only creative thinking and planning, but are also a 
prime example of getting more from the budget we have." 

The EPOXI mission melds two compelling science investigations -- the 
Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI) and the Extrasolar Planet 
Observation and Characterization (EPOCh). Both investigations will be 
performed using the Deep Impact spacecraft, which finished its prime 
mission in 2005. 

DIXI will involve a flyby of comet Boethin, which has never been 
explored. Boethin is a small, short period comet, or one that returns 
frequently to the inner solar system, from beyond Jupiter's orbit. 
This investigation will allow the recovery of some of the science 
lost with the 2002 failure of the COmet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) 
mission that was designed to make comparative studies of multiple 
comets. DIXI will be targeted to fly by comet Boethin December 5, 
2008.

The EPOCh investigation also will use the Deep Impact spacecraft to 
observe several nearby bright stars, watching as the giant planets 
already known to be orbiting the stars pass in front of and then 
behind them. The collected data will be used to characterize the 
giant planets and to determine whether they possess rings, moons, or 
Earth-sized planetary companions. EPOCh's sensitivity will exceed 
both current ground and space-based observatory capabilities. EPOCh 
also will measure the mid-infrared spectrum of the Earth, providing 
comparative data for future efforts to study the atmospheres of 
extrasolar planets. This search for extrasolar planets will be made 
this year, en route to comet Boethin. 

Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland, College Park, is 
EPOXI's principal investigator and the leader of the DIXI science 
team. L. Drake Deming of NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center, in 
Greenbelt, Md., is EPOXI's deputy principal investigator and leads 
the EPOCh investigation.

John Mather, Chief Scientist for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, 
said, "EPOXI is a wonderful opportunity to add to our growing body of 
knowledge of exoplanets. Watching planets go behind or in front of 
their parent stars can tell us about their atmospheric chemistry." 

The other newly selected Discovery mission of opportunity is called 
New Exploration of Tempel 1 (NExT). The mission will reuse NASA's 
Stardust spacecraft to revisit comet Tempel 1. This investigation 
will provide the first look at the changes to a comet nucleus 
produced after its close approach to the sun. It will mark the first 
time a comet has ever been revisited. NExT also will extend the 
mapping of Tempel 1, making it the most mapped comet nucleus to date. 
This mapping will help address the major questions of comet nucleus 
"geology" raised by images of areas where it appears material might 
have flowed like a liquid or powder. The images were returned by Deep 
Impact from its encounter with the comet on July 4, 2005. NExt is 
scheduled to fly by Tempel 1 on Feb. 14, 2011. 

Joseph Veverka of Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, is NExT's principal 
investigator. 

Stardust launched in Feb. 7, 1999. It traveled over 2 billion miles to 
fly within 150 miles of the comet Wild 2 in January 2004 to bring 
back samples that may provide new insights into the composition of 
comets and how they vary from one another. The container with the 
comet samples returned to Earth in January 2006 while the rest of the 
spacecraft remained in space.

Created in 1992, NASA's Discovery Program sponsors frequent, 
cost-capped solar system exploration missions with highly focused 
scientific goals. In 2006, NASA received approximately two dozen 
proposals in response to an Announcement of Opportunity for Discovery 
missions and Missions of Opportunity. Proposals were evaluated for 
scientific merit, technical, management and cost feasibility. 

For more information about the Discovery Program, visit: 

http://discovery.nasa.gov
For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: 

http://www.nasa.gov

	
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