CONTOUR SPACECRAFT CONSTRUCTION TO BEGIN

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The Comet Nucleus Tour, or Contour mission, passed both a preliminary design review and an independent confirmation assessment, clearing the way for the project team to begin building the spacecraft. Scheduled for launch on a Delta rocket in July 2002, the US$158 million mission will perform a flyby of the Earth one year later before flying by the comet Encke in November 2003. After flybys of the Earth in August 2004, February 2005, and February 2006, Contour will fly by the comet Schwassmann-Wachmann-3 in November 2006. The mission has the flexibility to fly by another comet, d'Arrest, in August 2008 after two additional Earth flybys in 2007 and 2008. The mission is designed to be able to intercept instead another comet, including one that might be discovered after the spacecraft's launch. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, Maryland, is managing the project for NASA.

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March 13, 2000

Andrews Space & Technology