NASA's sixth Discovery mission is to launch aboard a Boeing Delta II from Cape Canaveral, Florida, on 1 July. The $159 million Comet Nucleus Tour (Contour) will leave Earth orbit on 15 August en route to a 100km (62 miles) rendezvous with the comet Enke in November next year and comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3 in June 2006. The mission could include other comet targets. Contour will take close-up images of these objects and measure their chemical composition. Images of the nucleus of each comet are expected to achieve 4m (13ft) resolution.
Source: Flight International
