SPACE.com -- 'Fine Layer of Dust' Halts CONTOUR Launch Preparations.

Artist's impression of the Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft. CREDIT: NASA/JHUAPL/Cornell

Artist's impression of NASA's Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft as it swings past Earth. About once a year, CONTOUR will come back to Earth for a gravity assist toward its target comets. These maneuvers refine -- or even change -- CONTOUR's orbit around the sun. CREDIT: NASA/ Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Cornell University

Artist's impression of the Comet Nucleus Tour (CONTOUR) spacecraft during an encounter with comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3, scheduled for June 2006. The comet broke into at least three pieces after passing near the sun in the 1990s; when CONTOUR reaches SW3 mission scientists hope to see fresh, unaltered surfaces and evidence of the materials inside the comet. CREDIT: NASA/Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory/Cornell University

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	'Fine Layer of Dust' Halts CONTOUR Launch Preparations. By Brian Berger Space News Staff Writer posted: 12:23 pm ET 28 June 2002

WASHINGTON Dust discovered on of Contours solar array panels Thursday

WASHINGTON The discovery of dust on the solar array panels of the Comet Nucleus Tour spacecraft Thursday prompted officials to halt preparations for the planned July 1 launch of the comet-bound NASA vehicle.

The launch has been postponed to no earlier than July 3 while the mission team investigates what is on the solar array and how it got there.

The spacecraft, called CONTOUR for short, is an eight-sided spacecraft built by Johns Hopkins Universitys Applied Physics Laboratory. It was atop a Delta 2 rocket at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida when the contamination was discovered.

NASA spokesman Donald Savage said technicians were installing the rockets payload fairing around the spacecraft when they noticed what appeared to "a fine layer of dust" on the spacecrafts top solar panel.

Savage said the launch was postponed in order to give the mission team time to analyze the contaminant and decide what if anything needs to be done as a result. As of Friday morning, the Contour spacecraft was still installed atop the rocket, he said. Contour could launch as late as July 25 without effecting the mission, he said.

Contour, an abbreviation of Comet Nucleus Tour, is a four-year mission expected to yield the best-ever pictures of at least two comets: the old and nearly dormant Encke and the comparatively young and lively Schwassman-Wachmann 3. Contour is expected to rendezvous with Encke in late 2003 before catching up with Schwassman-Wachmann 3 in mid-2006.

The $159 million mission would be the sixth mission of NASAs Discovery program of cost-capped, scientist-led space science missions.

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