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(meteorobs) Nasa Press Release

Douglas Isbell
Headquarters, Washington, DC                  October 20, 1997
(Phone:  202/358-1753)

RELEASE:  97-240

MISSIONS TO GATHER SOLAR WIND SAMPLES AND TOUR THREE COMETS 
SELECTED AS NEXT DISCOVERY PROGRAM FLIGHTS 

     A mission to gather samples of the wind flowing from the Sun 
and a mission to fly by three near-Earth comets have been selected 
as the next flights in NASA's Discovery Program of lower-cost, 
highly focused scientific spacecraft.

     The Genesis mission is designed to collect samples of the 
charged particles in the solar wind and return them to Earth 
laboratories for detailed analysis.  It is led by Dr. Donald 
Burnett from the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA, 
at a total cost to NASA of $216 million.  Due for launch in 
January 2001, it will return the samples of isotopes of oxygen, 
nitrogen, the noble gases, and other elements to an airborne 
capture in the Utah desert in August 2003.  Such data are crucial 
for improving theories about the origin of the Sun and the 
planets, which formed from the same primordial dust cloud.

     The Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) will take images and 
comparative spectral maps of at least three comet nuclei and 
analyze the dust flowing from them.  CONTOUR is led by Dr. Joseph 
Veverka of Cornell University, Ithaca, NY, at a total cost to NASA 
of $154 million.  It is scheduled for launch in July 2002, with 
its first comet flyby to occur in November 2003.  This flyby of 
Comet Encke at a distance of about 60 miles (100 kilometers) will 
be followed by similar encounters with Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann-
3 in June 2006 and Comet d'Arrest in August 2008.

     "This was a very difficult selection, given the first-class 
science proposed by all five teams," said Dr. Wesley Huntress, 
Associate Administrator for Space Science at NASA Headquarters, 
Washington.  "We picked two based on our distribution of resources 
and the excellent fit of the timetables for these missions with 
other robotic space science explorers.  Genesis will give us a 
sample of the Sun as we are preparing to receive samples of a 
comet and asteroid from other missions.  Meanwhile, CONTOUR will 
help us better understand the breadth of the 'family' of comets, 
which are believed to be quite individual in their properties."

     The selection of these missions is the second step of a two-
step process.  In the first step, NASA selected five proposals in 
April 1997 for detailed four-month feasibility studies.  Funded by 
NASA at $350,000 each, these studies focused on cost, management 
and technical plans, including small business involvement and 
educational outreach.

     The selected proposals were among 34 proposals originally 
submitted to NASA in December 1996, in response to a Discovery 
Announcement of Opportunity (AO) issued on September 20, 1996.  As 
stated in the AO, the initial cost estimates were allowed to grow 
by a maximum of 20 percent between the April selection and the 
detailed final proposals.
 
     The investigations proposed in response to this announcement 
(AO-96-OSS-02) were required to address the goals and objectives 
of the Office of Space Science's Solar System Exploration theme or 
the search for extrasolar planetary systems element of the 
Astronomical Search for Origins and Planetary Systems theme.  A 
selected mission was required to be ready for launch no later than 
September 30, 2002, within the Discovery Program's cost cap of 
$280 million total per mission, including development, launch and 
operations.

     CONTOUR and Genesis follow four previously selected NASA 
Discovery missions.  The Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) 
spacecraft was launched in February 1996 and returned sharp images 
of the asteroid Mathilde from a distant flyby in June of this 
year, on its way to orbit the asteroid Eros in early 1999.  The 
Mars Pathfinder lander, carrying a small robotic rover named 
Sojourner, landed successfully on the surface of Mars on July 4, 
and since has returned hundreds of images and thousands of 
measurements of the Martian environment.

     The Lunar Prospector orbiter mission to map the Moon's 
composition and gravity field is scheduled for launch in January 
1998, and the Stardust mission is designed to gather dust from 
Comet Wild-2 in 2004 and return it to Earth, following a planned 
February 1999 launch.

                          -end-

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