ICE
International Cometary Explorer NASA launched 1978
previously
called International Sun Earth Explorer, ISEE-3.
1. science of Sun;
2. to pass through tail of a comet and measure its plasma and
magnetic features
NEAR
(Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous) NASA launched 1996
1. rendezvous
with asteroid Eros; determine physical and geological properties,
and measure elemental and mineralogical composition
asteroid
Mathilde: flyby, 1997;
asteroid Eros: fly by, early 1999;
asteroid Eros: rendezvous, Feb 2000 near.jhuapl.edu
DEEP SPACE
1
NASA launched 1998
1. demonstrate
new technologies;
2. determine physical properties and measure elemental, mineralogical
composition of asteroid Braille;
3. Extended mission to fly by a comets
asteroid
Braille: flyby July 28 1999
Comet Borelly: flyby September 23 2001
nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1
STARDUST
NASA launched Feb 1999
1. fly probe
to within 100 kilometre of comet Wild-2�s nucleus; June 2004;
2. interstellar dust collection en route (2000 and 2002); nucleus
imaging, compositional analysis of particulates, capture dust
particles from coma and return for analysis
NEAP
(Near-Earth Asteroid Prospector) SpaceDev corporation
Possible launch 2001
1. asteroid
Nereus;
2. first non-governmental deep space mission
asteroid
Nereus
www.spacedev.com/
MUSES-C
(Mu Space Engineering Spacecraft C) ISAS, Japan for launch 2002
1. rendezvous
with the potentially hazardous asteroid 1998 SF36; deliver nano-rover
to surface for in-situ imaging, collect samples of asteroid;
return to Earth for analysis
asteroid
1998 SF36: rendezvous, 2005
www.muses-c.isas.ac.jp
www.isas.ac.jp/e/ent
erp/missions/index.html
CONTOUR
(Comet Nucleus Tour) NASA for launch 2002
1. images
and comparative spectral maps of at least three comet nuclei;
analyse collected dust samples
1. rendezvous
with comet Wirtanen; 11 months of near comet operations; deliver
surface science package to perform in-situ analysis;
2. visit two asteroids on the 8 year journey
asteroid
Otawara: flyby, 2006;
asteroid Siwa: flyby, 2008;
comet 46 P/Wirtanen: rendezvous, 2011
sci.esa.int/home
/rosetta/index.cfm
DEEP IMPACT
NASA for launch 2004
1. internal
structure of a comet; impact comet with 500 kg copper projectile;
observe debris with spacecraft camera and spectrometer (and
from Earth)
PLUTO-KUIPER
EXPRESS
NASA for launch 2004? (Outer Planets Project)
1a. study
Pluto and its moon, Charon;
1b. radio science experiment; solar occultation spectrometer
and various imagers;
2. one or more Edgeworth-Kuiper Belt object flyby
Pluto encounter:
2012 to 2020; then through Edgeworth- Kuiper belt of comets
www.jpl.nasa.gov/ice_fire
Bepi-Colombo
ESA planned for launch in or after 2009
1. study
planet Mercury;
2. possible NEO search en-route with imaging cameras
sci.esa.int/home/b
epicolombo/index.cfm
DEEP SPACE
4
NASA (to be confirmed)
1a. test
20 new technologies;
1b. land on nucleus of active comet; possible sample return
�
D-2:
Other telescopes mentioned in report
Mission
Objective
(1=primary, etc.)
Encounters and website
HST
Hubble Space Telescope NASA/ESA launched 1990
space telescope
(aperture 2.4 metres); optical and ultra violet wavelengths
1. study
Sun�s internal structure (keeping in orbit 1.5 million kilometres
sun-ward of Earth for uninterrupted view of Sun), various imagers
2. inadvertently detects many comets