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New Deep Space 1 Trajectory Includes Asteroid Flyby

MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIF. 91109 TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov

Contact: John G. Watson

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE                              June 5, 1998

NEW DEEP SPACE 1 TRAJECTORY INCLUDES ASTEROID FLYBY

     Mission planners for NASA's Deep Space 1 have selected a 
near-Earth asteroid, 1992 KD, as a flyby destination. 

     Last April, NASA announced that the launch date for this 
technology validation mission was to be rescheduled from July 21 
to October 15, with the launch period extending to October 30. 
The new launch date precluded flying by planned destinations, 
including the previously announced asteroid McAuliffe, making it 
necessary to choose a new target. Deep Space 1 is scheduled to 
fly by the newly chosen asteroid 1992 KD on July 28, 1999.

     This asteroid was chosen from more than 100 flyby 
possibilities. Its elliptical orbit curves  within and outside of 
Mars' orbit of the Sun, at its farthest going out more than three 
times farther from the Sun than Earth. Although scientists 
believe its diameter is approximately three kilometers, they know 
little else about the body. With this flyby, they can learn more 
about its shape, size, surface composition, mineralogy, terrain 
and rotation speed. 

     "This new mission offers excellent opportunities for us to 
test our payload of advanced technologies that are so important 
for future space exploration," said Dr. Marc Rayman, Deep Space 1's
chief mission engineer.  "At the same time, the potential for 
bonus scientific return is extraordinary."

     Deep Space 1 is the first launch of the New Millennium 
Program, a series of missions designed to test new technologies 
so that they can be confidently used on science missions of the 
21st century. Among the 12 technologies that the mission is 
designed to validate is an ion propulsion engine that fires 
electrically charged xenon atoms from its thrusters; this is the 
first time it has ever been used as the primary propulsion system 
in deep space. Also being tested are autonomous optical 
navigation, a solar concentrator array and an integrated camera 
and imaging spectrometer. 

     The latter instrument, also known as the Miniature 
Integrated Camera Spectrometer, or MICAS, will be validated by 
making science observations of asteroid 1992 KD, among several 
other methods. The flyby will also help to test both a miniature 
integrated ion and electron spectrometer instrument, also termed 
the Plasma Experiment for Planetary Exploration (PEPE), and the 
spacecraft's autonomous optical navigation system. The remaining 
new technologies will be tested during cruise and thrusting 
phases both before and after the flyby.

     By October, 1999, Deep Space 1 will have completed its 
primary mission of demonstrating new technologies and will be on 
a trajectory that could result in a flyby of comet Borelly two 
years later. Comet Borrelly is one of the most active comets that 
regularly visit the inner solar system.

     Further information about Deep Space 1 is available at 
http://nmp.jpl.nasa.gov/Deep Space 1/ . The New Millennium 
Program and Deep Space 1 are managed by JPL for NASA's Office of 
Space Science. JPL is a division of the California Institute of 
Technology.

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