CONTOUR
Date: 22 Jul 2002

CONTOUR (COmet Nucleus TOUR) was designed to make a detailed study of the interior of at least two comets.


Contact with the spacecraft was lost after an 15 Aug. 2002 engine burn that was intended to propel it out of Earth orbit. A mishap investigation board determined that overheating during the engine burn caused the spacecraft to break apart.

Credit: Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory