[Az-Geocaching] CONTOUR Spacecraft was lost, then.......
Jim Scotti
listserv@azgeocaching.com
Fri, 16 Aug 2002 22:36:54 -0700 (MST)
Yeah, Channel 4 down here in Tucson had a story on it too, but they gave sole
credit for the observations to Kitt Peak. No mention of LPL or the UofA or
Spacewatch. I don't work for Kitt Peak, I just work ON Kitt Peak. I'll have
to ask some of my friends who work for Kitt Peak how they managed those
observations.... :-) I talked to one reporter today and I know my colleagues
have also been talking to the press. Sure hope the spacecraft is still
alive, but it doesn't look good.
Jim.
On Fri, 16 Aug 2002 trisha@brasher.com wrote:
> The story was on the news (ch 12) tonight, when they said that (nobody
> could find the spacecraft) until "observers" on Kitt Peak located it,
> I thought immediately of you, Jim, and was hoping to see an on the air
> interview!
>
> Trisha "Lightning"
>
> waiting for transporter technology to be perfected....or Warp drive
> first!
>
>
> On Fri, 16 August 2002, Jim Scotti wrote:
>
> >
> > I hear this spacecraft failure is being blamed on geocaching after a
> > local
> > park official found a suspicious tupperware container marked with the
> > geocaching website only 7.6 miles from the launch pad....
> >
> > Seriously, it's too bad it looks like the CONTOUR spacecraft has been
> > lost.
> > It was a great opportunity to learn more about comets.
> Unfortunately,
> > we
> > have not yet perfected spaceflight - when we do, I'll look forward to
> > geocaching on Mars!
> >
> > Jim.
> >
> > On Fri, 16 Aug 2002, Jim Stamm wrote:
> >
> > > I know this is OT, but interesting never-the-less:
> > > >
> > > >On Fri, 16 Aug 2002, Ed Cannon wrote:
> > > >
> > > >> "CONTOUR Spacecraft Possibly Destroyed, NASA
> Says"
> > > >>
> > > >> "... [CONTOUR Mission Director Robert] Farquhar
> said late Friday
> > that
> > > >> images from a ground-based telescope of two unknown
> objects about
> > 250
> > > >> kilometers apart appeared to be pieces of the
> comet-chasing
> > craft. He
> > > >> said more investigation was needed to confirm the
> suspicion and
> > that a
> > > >> concerted search effort would continue at least
> through Monday in
> > the
> > > >> meantime. ...
> > > >>
> > > >> "In a teleconference with reporters Friday
> evening, Farquhar said
> > the
> > > >> craft's engines had almost certainly fired and that it
> was no
> > longer
> > > >> in Earth orbit."
> > > >>
> > > >> Source:
> > > >>
> > > >> <a
> href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/contour_telecon_020816.html">http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/contour_telecon_020816.html</a>
> > > >
> > > >
> > > Then, one of ours posted:
> > > >
> > > >As the observer who got the images of the spacecraft, it's
> > certainly a sad
> > > >day for comet research. Our images (in the following URL)
> show two
> > trails
> > > >rather than the one expected, so something catastrophic
> must have
> > happened.
> > > >Previous spacecraft, like NEAR had two trails as well as the
> > booster was
> > > >ejected, but I guess that was not supposed to happen to
> CONTOUR. I
> > wonder
> > > >what the two pieces are? The spacecraft was at about the
> -3% of
> > from nominal
> > > >burn location, so the engine burn was completed or nearly
> so.
> > > >
> > > ><a
> href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/contour.html">http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/contour.html</a>
> > > ><a
> href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/Jeff/contour.jpg">http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/Jeff/contour.jpg</a>
> > > >
> > > >The first URL describes the image, the second is the image.
> The
> > spacecraft
> > > >is in a very dense star field near the Galactic plane, so
> in order
> > to see it,
> > > >I subtracted the 2nd image from the first so the first
> image is the
> > white
> > > >pair, the second is the dark pair and the residual signal
> from the
> > field
> > > >stars appear as conjoined black/white pairs since they don't
> > perfectly
> > > >subtract out.
> > > >
> > > >Jim Scotti
> > > >Lunar & Planetary Laboratory
> jscotti@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu
> > > >University of Arizona
> > > >Tucson, AZ 85721 USA
> > <a
> href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti">http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti</a>/
> > > >
> > >
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> > >
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> > > <a
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> > >
> >
> > Jim Scotti
> > Lunar & Planetary Laboratory
> jscotti@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu
> > University of Arizona
> > Tucson, AZ 85721 USA
> > <a
> href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti">http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti</a>/
> >
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> >
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>
>
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Jim Scotti
Lunar & Planetary Laboratory jscotti@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu
University of Arizona
Tucson, AZ 85721 USA http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/