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The CONTOUR spacecraft and its upper stage booster has been moved to the launch pad, at the John F. Kennedy Space Center in Florida, ready for launch on July 1. The spacecraft was attached to its booster in the 22m-high Spacecraft Assembly and Encapsulation Facility (SAEF-2) on Monday and was moved to Launch Pad 17-A yesterday morning where it was hoisted on top of a Delta II rocket. The journey to the launch pad took over 2 hours to complete and over the next few days the spacecraft will be put through electrical and flight sequence tests. CONTOUR is due to be launched during a 12 second window of opportunity at 06:56 GMT on July 1.
The CONTOUR mission, which is part of NASA's Discovery Program, will rendezvous with two comets and provide the most detailed data yet on the materials that make up these objects. The mission aims to investigate the differences between comets and solve the many mysteries of how comets change as they approach the Sun and their ices begin to turn to gas.
At least two comets will be visited. The first, in Nov 2003 will be comet Encke, which has the shortest orbital period of any known comet taking only 3.2 years to circle the Sun. CONTOUR's second target, in June 2006, will be comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3. This comet has probably not come close to the Sun as often as Encke and in 1996 astronomers witnessed large pieces splitting off of its icy nucleus. CONTOUR scientists hope, therefore, to find some of the interior of this comet exposed. The solar powered spacecraft is, however, designed to allow it to be diverted to a new Long Period comet should the opportunity arise.
More info: CONTOUR homepage
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