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Michael Braukus April 20, 1990

Headquarters, Washington, D.C.


(Phone: 202/453-1549)

Joyce B. Milliner
Wallops Flight Facility, Wallops Island, Va.
(Phone: 804/824-1579 )

RELEASE: 90-57

NASA SCIENTIFIC INSTRUMENTS TO OBSERVE COMET AUSTIN

Two NASA sounding rockets are scheduled to be launched from


the White Sands Missile Range, New Mexico, carrying scientific
instruments above the Earth's atmosphere to observe the recently
discovered Comet Austin (1989c1).

Both rockets are two-stage, sub-orbital Black Brant IXs. One


is tentatively scheduled to be launched no earlier than April 21,
during the evening, and the other no earlier than April 28, just
before dawn.

The first rocketborne payload will carry Johns Hopkins


University's faint object telescope (FOT) and a spectrograph to
observe the comet in the far ultraviolet spectral range. Using a
special Westinghouse camera, the image is sent to the ground
station so that real-time maneuvers of the payload can be made
for precise pointing in the sky.

The launch window for this experiment extends from April 21


through April 30, 1990. Favorable observing conditions require
that the sun must be at least 23.5 degrees below the horizon and
the moon must be at least 25 degrees away from Comet Austin which
must be above the horizon.

The second experiment will carry a far ultraviolet


spectrometer for the University of Colorado (CU). Scheduled to
be launched on the morning of April 28, the payload will study
the spectral emissions from Comet Austin.

-more-

-2-

According to CU's Dr. James Green, "Since comet Austin is


suspected to be a "first time" comet, i.e., this is believed to
be the comet's first trip into the inner solar system, the study
of the concentration of its noble gases is a powerful probe of
the conditions in the Oort cloud, (the region of the solar system
from where comets come). For the same reason, the chemical
composition of Comet Austin also is a strong indicator of the
initial conditions in our solar system."

Both payloads are programmed to descend from parachutes and


be recovered from the desert. The experiments then will be
refurbished to make future galactic astronomy studies.

Comet Austin was discovered by an amateur comet hunter from


New Zealand, Rodney R. D. Austin, on the evening of Dec. 6, 1989,
when it was still far from the sun. At the time of the first
rockets' observation, Comet Austin will be approximately 27
degrees from the Sun as viewed from the Earth.

The most widely accepted theory of comet composition is the


"dirty snowball" model, suggested by Fred Whipple in the 1950's.
As a comet approaches the sun, the water molecules at the surface
of this "dirty snowball" begin to sublimate (change from a solid
to a gaseous state). These rocketborne studies should provide
valuable information for scientists to better understand the
formation and composition of comets.
The Black Brant IX solid propellant rocket vehicle is 46 feet
long and 18 inches in diameter. These scientific missions are
part of the overall NASA Sounding Rocket Program managed at the
Goddard Space Flight Center's Wallops Flight Facility in
Virginia. This program consists of approximately 35 sounding
rockets launched each year from various worldwide locations,
under the sponsorship of NASA's Office of Space Science and
Applications.

Dr. Paul Feldman of Johns Hopkins University is the principal


investigator for the first launch; co-investigators are Drs.
David Sahnow, Mel Martinez and Stephen McCandliss. For the
second mission, Dr. Webster Cash is the principal investigator
from the University of Colorado and Dr. Jim Green and Timothy
Cook are the project scientists. Wallops Flight Facility project
managers are Anel Flores and John van Overeem, respectively, for
the two missions.

-end-

TO: MDS/PRA Group


1615 L Street, N.W. - Suite 100
Washington, D.C. 20036

DATE & TIME: April 20, 1990 3:15pm

ORDERED BY: Edward Campion


NASA Headquarters/LMD
400 Maryland Avenue, SW
Washington, DC 20546 PHONE: 202/453-8400

PROJECT TITLE: Release No: 90-57

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MAIL DATE: April 23, 1990

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