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Throught this weekend flight controllers at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory will continue to coordinate the search for the NASA CONTOUR spacecraft. NASA lost contact with the probe on Thursday as it flew over the Pacific Ocean at 140 km altitude - too low to be tracked by the Deep Space Network. The spacecraft was scheduled to burn its solid-propellant rocket to take it from its parking orbit around the Earth onto a trajectory that would take it to its target comets, however, no contact with the spacecraft has been made since the scheduled burn.
Using its 34-meter antennas, NASA's Deep Space Network stations are scanning the spacecraft's expected path beyond Earth's orbit, trying to pick up radio signals from CONTOUR's transmitters. The CONTOUR team is also awaiting feedback from several NASA-sponsored and other optical and radar sites that have been searching the skies for signs of the spacecraft. On Monday, Aug. 19, CONTOUR is due to automatically carry out a built in command to transmit through all four of its antennas. Programmed to begin 96 hours after CONTOUR receives its last command, meaning it could start as early as 4:09 a.m. (EDT) or as late as 10:09 p.m. Monday, mission operators hope this will provide the opportunity they need to locate and re-establish contact with the probe.
Space exploration is frought with hazards and the fact that most missions succeed is due to the detailed planning that goes into mission design and spacecraft technology. There are many reasons why communications with CONTOUR may have failed including instrument failure and damage to the probe by collision with artifical or natural space debris. Dr Robert Farquhar, CONTOUR mission director, said “We aren’t sure that the spacecraft is completely gone, and that’s what we’re going to be working on over the next several days,”. CONTOUR is one of four NASA/ESA space missions to comets and was to provide valuable information on the nature of these icy bodies.
More info: CONTOUR Website
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