Champollion (spacecraft) - Deep Space 4 / Space Technology 4

Deep Space 4 / Space Technology 4

Champollion was revived under NASA's New Millennium program as Deep Space 4 / Space Technology 4, again as a joint project of NASA and CNES. In this version, Champollion would be a stand-alone project consisting of an orbiter and a lander, with the focus shifted somewhat to engineering validation of new technologies rather than pure science.

As of March 1999, the baseline mission was to launch in April 2003, reaching comet Tempel 1 in 2006. The sample return element of the mission was at this point contingent on sufficient funding/resources, possibly being replaced with a demonstration of related capabilities.

The lander was approximately 1.5 m high weighing 160 kg; it was to autonomously navigate to the comet from 50 km altitude and anchor itself with a spike. The planned payload included:

  • CHARGE, a gas chromatograph/mass spectrometer
  • CIRCLE, cameras/microscope/IR spectrometer
  • CIVA, panoramic cameras
  • CPPP, "physical properties probes" to be driven into the cometary surface
  • SATM drill mechanism
  • gamma ray/neutron spectrometer

The orbiter was to carry cameras and a dust monitor.

Later in 1999, Space Technology 4 was scaled back to a single spacecraft with no sample return; it was cancelled entirely on July 1, 1999, due to budgetary constraints.

New Millennium Program
Launched
  • Deep Space 1
  • Deep Space 2
  • Earth Observing-1
  • Space Technology 5
Cancelled
  • Champollion
  • Deep Space 4
  • Earth Observing-2
  • Earth Observing-3
  • Space Technology 4
  • Space Technology 6
  • Space Technology 7
  • Space Technology 8

Read more about this topic:  Champollion (spacecraft)

Famous quotes containing the words deep, space and/or technology:

    “Lo, thus, as prostrate, ‘In the dust I write
    My heart’s deep languor and my soul’s sad tears.’
    Yet why evoke the spectres of black night
    To blot the sunshine of exultant years?”
    —James Thomson (1834–1882)

    “Even the most subjected person has moments of rage and resentment so intense that they respond, they act against. There is an inner uprising that leads to rebellion, however short- lived. It may be only momentary but it takes place. That space within oneself where resistance is possible remains.”
    —bell hooks (b. c. 1955)

    “Technology is not an image of the world but a way of operating on reality. The nihilism of technology lies not only in the fact that it is the most perfect expression of the will to power ... but also in the fact that it lacks meaning.”
    —Octavio Paz (b. 1914)