The Comet Nucleus Tour, or CONTOUR, mission launched from Cape Canaveral on July 3, 2002. Six weeks later, on August 15,
contact with the spacecraft was lost after a planned maneuver that was intended to propel it out of Earth orbit and into
its comet-chasing solar orbit. Limited ground-based evidence at the time suggested the spacecraft split into several pieces.
Attempts to contact CONTOUR were made through December 20, 2002, when NASA and The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics
Laboratory concluded the spacecraft was lost.
NASA convened a CONTOUR Mishap Investigation Board with Theron Bradley Jr., NASA Chief Engineer, as chair.
The purpose of
the Board was to examine the processes, data and actions surrounding the events of August 15; to search for proximate and
root causes; and develop recommendations that may be applicable to future missions.
After an extensive investigation, the board identified four possible causes for the failure but concluded the probable
proximate cause was structural failure of the spacecraft due to plume heating during the embedded solid-rocket motor burn. Read the Board's Full Report.
MISSION MANAGEMENT
Comet Encke
The CONTOUR mission was timed to encounter and study two very different comets, Encke and Schwassmann-Wachmann-3 as they
made their periodic visits to the inner solar system.
At each comet flyby, the spacecraft was to get as close as 60 miles (100 kilometers) to take high resolution pictures and
perform a detailed compositional analyses of both gas and dust in the near-nucleus environment, as well as determine the
comet's precise orbit. The science objectives were to dramatically improve our knowledge of key characteristics of comet
nuclei and to assess their diversity.
Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3
MISSION MANAGEMENT The CONTOUR mission was managed for NASA by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory in Laurel, MD.
The Principal Investigator was Dr. Joseph Veverka of Cornell University.
