[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next][Date Index][Thread Index]

Science Team Chosen For DS-1 Mission

Douglas Isbell
Headquarters, Washington, DC                September 29. 1997
(Phone: 202/358-1753)

John Watson
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, CA
(Phone:  818/354-5011)

RELEASE: 97-219

SCIENCE TEAM CHOSEN FOR TECHNOLOGY VALIDATION 
MISSION TO EXPLORE AN ASTEROID AND A COMET

     Ten planetary scientists have been chosen to lead the 
analysis of measurements to be made by miniaturized instruments 
carried aboard a mission called Deep Space-1, the first flight 
in NASA's New Millennium Program.

     Scheduled for launch in July 1998, Deep Space-1 (DS-1) is 
intended to validate advanced instrument and spacecraft systems 
technologies required for low-cost space science missions.  The 
spacecraft will conduct flybys of an asteroid, a comet and 
Mars. DS-1 science investigation proposals were evaluated on 
the basis of their scientific ideas, and the unique theoretical 
and analytical capabilities that they would bring to bear in 
meeting the overall mission objectives and its cost 
constraints. 

     The selected scientists are: 

Frances Bagenal, University of Colorado, Boulder
Daniel Boice, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio, TX
Daniel Britt, University of  Arizona, Tucson
Bonnie Buratti, Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena, CA 
Jurgen Oberst, the German Aerospace Research Establishment (DLR), Berlin
Tobias Owen, University of Hawaii, Honolulu
Laurence Soderblom, U.S. Geological Survey, Flagstaff, AZ
Alan Stern, Southwest Research Institute, Boulder, CO
Nicolas Thomas, Max-Planck-Institut fur Aeronomie, Lindau, Germany
David Young, Southwest Research Institute, San Antonio

     DS-1's primary science goals include detailed studies of 
the characteristics of the solar wind, the stream of charged 
particles emitted by the Sun, and learning more about the 
physical properties of the asteroid McAuliffe (January 1999 
flyby) and Comet P/West-Kohoutek-Ikemura (June 2000), including 
the comet's nucleus and its plasma properties. 

     The DS-1 spacecraft science instrument package has two 
main components.  The Miniature Integrated Camera Spectrometer 
(MICAS) encompasses a camera, an ultraviolet imaging 
spectrometer and an infrared imaging spectrometer, all within 
one 26-pound (12-kilogram) package.  The Plasma Experiment for 
Planetary Exploration (PEPE) combines multiple instruments into 
one compact 13-pound (six-kilogram) package designed to 
determine the three-dimensional distribution of plasma, or 
electrically charged particles, over its field of view.  PEPE 
includes a very low-power, low-mass micro-calorimeter to help 
understand plasma-surface interactions and a plasma analyzer to 
identify the individual molecules and atoms in the immediate 
vicinity of the spacecraft that have been eroded off the 
surface of the asteroid and the comet

     "NASA could not have selected a better team of 
investigators. The results of the DS-1 investigations will make 
a significant contribution to our understanding of the 
conditions in the early Solar System," said Dr. Robert Nelson, 
the DS-1 project scientist at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, 
Pasadena, CA.  "We will learn more about the material from 
which planets condensed and life evolved. Ultimately, we will 
learn more about ourselves."
   
     The 12 advanced systems technologies to be validated by 
DS-1 include solar electric propulsion, high-power solar 
concentrator arrays, autonomous on-board optical navigation, 
and several telecommunications and microelectronics devices.
     
     "We are conducting science on Deep Space-1 in order to 
demonstrate that the technologies being tested are compatible 
with future science-focused missions, and to take full 
advantage of this rare opportunity to send a capable spacecraft 
to such interesting solar system targets," explained Dr. Marc 
Rayman, DS-1 Chief Mission Engineer at JPL.  

     Further information on DS-1 is available on the Internet 
at the following URL:

                  http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/ds1/

     The New Millennium Program is managed by JPL for the NASA 
Office of Space Science in Washington, DC.  JPL is a division 
of the California Institute of Technology, Pasadena, CA.

                          -end-