NASA’s Stardust-New Exploration of Tempel 1 (Stardust-NExT) is on target.
Mission controllers report that they are pleased with final optical navigation solutions that show the predicted delivery of the spacecraft for a comet rendezvous is within a “green zone.”
The nominal flyby point is at 191 kilometers from the surface of the comet with an 11kilometer uncertainty radius.
The current time of closest approach estimate is still around 04:40 UTC on February 15 – that’s 8:40 p.m. February 14 west coast time in the United States – a Valentine’s Day sweet spot in space and time.
Stardust-NExT is a low-cost, low-risk mission that reuses the Stardust spacecraft, launched in February 1999, to flyby Comet Tempel 1. The craft will obtain high-resolution images of the coma and nucleus, as well as measurements of the composition, size distribution and flux of dust emitted into the coma.
The spacecraft was built by Lockheed Martin Space Systems.
This will be the second exploration of Tempel 1 by a spacecraft.
Stardust-NExT mission scientists will image the comet Tempel 1 to see how surface features on the object have changed over the past five-and-a-half years.
Tempel 1 had previously been visited and imaged in July of 2005 by NASA’s Deep Impact mission. That mission also deployed an impactor that struck the comet. Scientists are hopeful of spotting the resulting impact crater – although important science information is to be gained regardless of sighting that human-made crater.
Whatever the case – stand by for surprises!
By Leonard David