spacetoday.net: Last effort to contact CONTOUR fails

Posted: Sat, Dec 21, 2002, 11:52 AM ET (1652 GMT)
CONTOUR spacecraft illustration (NASA/JHUAPL)

Project officials have written off CONTOUR, a NASA comet mission, after a last-ditch effort to contact the spacecraft failed this week. Communications with the spacecraft have been lost since August 15, when the spacecraft's on-board motor fired to send the spacecraft out of Earth orbit. Telescopic surveys of the region of space where CONTOUR should be turned up several pieces, suggesting that the spacecraft suffered an explosion towards the end of its engine burn. Officials were hopeful, though, that enough of the spacecraft could have survived intact to allow a multidirectional antenna on the spacecraft to receive signals this week, when the Earth and CONTOUR were favorably positioned. No signals were received from the spacecraft, however, during two communications sessions. CONTOUR project manager Edward Reynolds said Friday that he would recommend to NASA that no further efforts be made to contact the spacecraft and that the project be shut down. CONTOUR, short for Comet Nucleus Tour, was a Discovery-class mission to fly by two or more comet nuclei to obtain detailed images and other data. An investigation into the CONTOUR failure, led by NASA chief engineer Theron M. Bradley, Jr., is in progress, with a preliminary report to be released next month.