dipper@utastro.UUCP (Debbie Byrd) (10/02/84)
A possible new space mission would send a craft past an asteroid -- toward a rendezvous with a comet. More about it -- right after this. October 2 Comet Rendezvous/ Asteroid Flyby In September, 1985, a NASA spacecraft will sweep through the tail of Comet Giacobini-Zinner. A few months later, a NASA spacecraft orbiting Venus will be turned to take a look at Comet Halley. And shortly after that, craft from the Soviet Union, Europe and Japan will fly past Comet Halley, providing close-up data for a few hours or days. But, in the 1990s, NASA may launch a spacecraft that'll sweep past an asteroid -- then fly side-by-side with a comet for some YEARS. The Comet Rendezvous/ Asteroid Flyby mission is being studied for a July, 1990, launch. In May, 1991, the proposed spacecraft would sweep past an asteroid called Tanete -- getting the first-ever close-up images of an asteroid. Then in February, 1994, it would achieve a matching orbit with Comet Kopff -- due to round the sun 879 days later. The craft would monitor Comet Kopff for at least three years -- sometimes moving in orbit around the icy core or "nucleus" of the comet -- sometimes flying in formation with it -- and sometimes maneuvering down the comet's long tail. Its distance from the comet's nucleus would range from about 30,000 miles to about 6 miles. All this time, the spacecraft would be acquiring good, sharp images of the comet -- and answering many scientific questions including, what does a comet nucleus look like? What changes occur as the comet nears the sun? That's a possible new mission for the 1990s -- a comet rendezvous/ asteroid flyby -- scheduled to become a candidate for a "new start" in funding in fiscal 1987. Script by Deborah Byrd. (c) Copyright 1983, 1984 McDonald Observatory, University of Texas at Austin