Tech Shout!

National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has sent word that they have given new assignments to the Stardust and Deep Impact spacecrafts, which have successfully completed their earlier missions. They will now perform new, previously unplanned investigations.

The first mission dubbed as EPOXI is made up of two compelling science investigations, the Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI) and the Extrasolar Planet Observation and Characterization (EPOCh). The first one DIXI, will involve a flyby of comet Boethin, which has never been explored, while the other one, EPOCh will utilize the Deep Impact spacecraft to study several nearby bright stars, watching as the giant planets already known to be orbiting the stars pass in front of and then behind them.

Alan Stern is the associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate, Headquarters, Washington. He says, “These mission extensions are as exciting as it gets. They will allow us to revisit a comet for the first time, add another to the list of comets explored and make a search for small planets around stars with known large planets. And by using existing spacecraft in flight, we can accomplish all of this for only about 15 percent of the cost of starting a new mission from scratch. These new mission assignments for veteran spacecraft represent not only creative thinking and planning, but are also a prime example of getting more from the budget we have.”

John Mather, Chief Scientist, Science Mission Directorate, NASA comments, “EPOXI is a superb opportunity to add to our growing body of knowledge of exoplanets. Watching planets go behind or in front of their parent stars can tell us about their atmospheric chemistry.”

It seems that NASA has worked out a wonderful plan to study new comets. It would be great if they plan for a manned mission to comets and planets. And now it can even get help from emerging superpowers like India and China who are also making big strides in space exploration.