Sunday, October 6, 2002

CONTOUR

 2002-034A


Contour, the Comet Nucleus Tour, is the 2002 Discovery mission. Its goal is to image comet nuclei at 4m resolution, and provide nuclear spectral maps at 100-200m resolution. It will also make composition measurements on cometary gas and dust. The APL-built probe is led by a Cornell University team.

Mass is 970 kg at launch - 387 kg dry, 503 kg Star 30BP S/N 074, 80 kg hydrazine. Size is a 2.0m dia, 2.0m long octagonal cylinder.

Contact was lost at solid motor firing. Three fragments were observed: A, B and C. A design error meant that the spacecraft overheated and key components were destroyed. B is a small 4 kg piece based on acceleration measurements. A had a mass of around 300 kg, and is probably the main bit of Contour.

 


Contour 
 

DateTimeEventOrbit  

2002 Jul 3 0647:41 Launch by Delta 7425-9.5  
  T+1:03 SRM 1-4 burnout 
  T+1:08 SRM 1-4 sep 
 0652:05 T+4:24 MECO 
  T+4:32 Stage 1 sep 
 0652:18 T+4:37 SES-1 
  T+4:42 Fairing sep
 0659:17  T+11:36 SECO-1  185 x 197 x 29.7  
 0746:11  T+58:30 SES-2 
 0746:15  T+58:34 SECO-2  185 x 308 x 29.7  
 0747:08  T+59:27 St 2 sep 
 0747:47 T+1:00:06 PAM-D burn 2921 m/s 
 0749:13 T+1:01:32 TECO  2423.6 90 x 106689 x 30.5  
 0751:11 T+1:03:30 St 3 sep 
 0751:13 T+1:03:32 Yo weight sep 
  SES-3 depletion  174 x 300 x 30.4  
2002 Jul 4   Apogee 1 
2002 Jul 5 0325  Perigee 1  
2002 Jul 6   Apogee 2  236 x 109000? 
 1644  OCM-2, +3.8m/s, phasing period 
2002 Jul 6 2106  Perigee 2  
2002 Jul 7   Apogee 3  268 x ? 
2002 Jul 8 1458  Perigee 3  
2002 Jul 11  2018 Perigee 5 OCM-4 +0.9m/s 
2002 Jul 18    217 x 108466 x 30.24 
2002 Jul 20    231 x 108441 x 30.21 
2002 Jul 23  2150  OCM-5 +0.12m/s  225 x 108484 x 30.26 
2002 Jul 27   198 x 108481 x 30.56 
2002 Jul 27 1202  OCM6, 58s 3.0m/s at TRUE=148.5 197 x 108457 x 30.6 
2002 Jul 28   230 x 108704 x 30.6 
2002 Jul 30    246 x 108685 x 30.74 
2002 Jul 31  1713  OCM7 3.2m/s 63s lower perigee  266 x 108645 x 30.7 
2002 Aug 2    228 x 108610 x 30.5 
2002 Aug 3 0715 OCM8 Perigee 0.7m/s 18s at 12021 km, return to 1.75d  242 x 108618 x 30.5 
2002 Aug 5    238 x 109658 x 30.5 
2002 Aug 6  1722  OCM-9 0.22m/s to adjust time and C3 
2002 Aug 13  1521  Perigee 
2002 Aug 14  1206  Apogee R = 115058 km 
2002 Aug 15  0849 Perigee 
2002 Aug 15  0849  Solar orbit injection with SRM, 50 s, 1.926 km/s planned 
  Actual dV 1.850 km/s 
  Loss of signal  240 x -33995 x 30.6 
   225 x -34869 x 30.98 (A)  
2002 Aug 15  1446  C Pass EL1:4 
2002 Aug 15  1450  B Pass EL1:4 
2002 Aug 15  1450  A Pass EL1:4 
2002 Aug 17  0400  C leaves E/M SOI 
2002 Aug 17  0500  A leaves E/M SOI  225 x Inf x 30.97 
2002 Aug 17  0500  B leaves E/M SOI 
2002 Aug 18  0242  C leaves Earth sphere 1.5Mkm 
2002 Aug 18  0342  B leaves Earth sphere 1.5Mkm 
2002 Aug 18  0342  A leaves Earth sphere 1.5Mkm 
2003 Jan 1   Fragment A  0.876 x 1.131 AU x 8.71  
2003 Jan 1   Fragment B  0.875 x 1.132 AU x 8.72  
2003 Jan 1   Fragment C  0.871 x 1.129 AU x 8.91  
2003 Aug 14  0800  C within E/M SOI  742000 x Inf x 37.45  
2003 Aug 15  1329  Fragment C flies 742000 km +/- 1.3Mkm from Earth 
2003 Aug 16  1333:12  Fragment A flies 4926000 km from Earth 
2003 Aug 16  2000  C leaves E/M SOI 
2003 Aug 17  0015  Fragment B flies 6820000 km from Earth 
planned 
  Star 30 cutoff  225 x Inf 
2002 Aug 16   TCM-1  0.80 x 1.35 AU 
2003 Aug 15   Earth flyby 58000 km 
2003 Aug    0.9 x 1.2 AU?  
2003 Nov 12  2P/Encke flyby 100 km at 1.07AU from Sun 
2004 Aug 14   Earth flyby 40180 km 
  Orbit i = 12.0  1.0 x 1.0 AU x 12.0? 
2005 Feb 10  Earth flyby 218770 km 
2006 Feb 10   Earth flyby 30000 km 
2006 Feb    0.9 x 1.1 AU? x 0?  
2006 Jun 18  73P/Schwassmann-Wachmann-3 flyby at 0.95AU from Sun 
2007 Feb 10  Earth flyby 7600 km 
2007 Feb    0.8 x 1.35 AU?  
2008 Feb 11  Earth flyby 19000 km 
2008 Aug 15  6P/d'Arrest flyby at 1.35 AU from Sun. 

Payload:

  • CRISP Contour Remote Imager/Spectrograph

  • CAI Contour Aft Imager

  • CIDA Dust Analyser

  • NGIMS Neutral Gas Ion Mass Spectrometer

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