Deep Space 1: NASA's Forgotten Overachiever

Artist's Concept of Deep Space 1 at comet Borrelly. Credit: NASA/JPL

Launch Date: October 24, 1998

Launch Site: Cape Canaveral at Florida, United States

Launch Vehicle: Delta II (7326-9.5 Med-Lite Variant)

Mission Type: Demonstration & Flyby

Targets: Braille & Borrelly

Dimensions: Unavailable.

Mass: 486.32 Kilograms (Including Propellant)

Deep Space 1 is not to be confused with Deep impact, which was another NASA mission. Deep Space 1 was intended as a technology testbed. It would test brand new technologies for the first time. These technologies, if proven, would then be used on NASA spacecraft in the new millenium. It later underwent an extended mission, were it flew past asteroid Braille and comet Borrelly.

The Mission

Deep Space 1, like many NASA missions of the late 90s, and early 2000s, launched aboard a Delta II rocket on October 24, 1998. This was the first flight of the Delta II 7326 Variant, and it performed well, sending Deep Space 1 on its journey.

Launch of Deep Space 1. Credit: NASA

More information on Deep Space 1's mission can be found in Doctor Marc Rayman's mission log. Dr. Rayman was the project manager of the Deep Space 1 mission.

After Launch, Deep Space 1 suffered a minor glitch, with one of its solar arrays pointed away from the Sun. The second solar array was giving sufficient power to the spacecraft however, and the error was corrected.

Deep Space 1 successfully tested 12 new technologies on its mission. These were:

Solar Electric Propulsion, which used ionized xenon and electricity to generate thrust. 

Solar Concentrator Arrays which used lenses to focus sunlight on the photovoltaic cells, and increase energy efficiency. 

Autonomous Navigation.

Miniature Integrated Camera and Imaging Spectrometer, which was a smaller and more compact version of previous technologies.

Ion and Electron Spectrometer, which compressed several different science instruments into one instrument.

Small Deep Space Transponder, which compressed several communication devices into a smaller package.

Ka-Band Solid State Amplifier, which tested a new radio frequency for spacecraft communication.

Beacon Monitor Operations, for testing frequencies and tones used by the spacecraft for saying how ugently in needs to communicate with the Deep Space Network.

Autonomous Remote Agent, which tested an early AI system for controlling the spacecraft.

Low Power Electronics.

Power Actuation and Switching Module, monitors and reports the energy used by the spacecraft's switches.

Multifunctional Structure.

Additional Science

Deep Space 1's mission was intended to test new technologies, but it was able to do far more than that. On July 28, 1999, Deep Space 1 made a flyby of asteroid Braille at a distance of 27 kilometres. It suffered a glitch right before the flyby due to processing too much information at once. The team behind the spacecraft were able to fix it with the "turn it off and back on again" restart method.

Due to the last minute course correction maneuvers, and small size of the asteroid, Deep Space 1 wasn't able to take a high resolution image of Braille. After this flyby, Deep Space 1 was put on a new trajectory to visit the comet Borrelly. On its way to the comet, Deep Space 1 suffered a major setback.

Deep Space 1's view of Comet Borrelly's tail and nucleus. Credit: NASA/JPL

Deep Space 1's star tracker, which was used to orient the spacecraft in the right direction, failed on November 1, 1999. This almost ended the extended mission, but JPL engineers came up with a solution. They would use new software that would allow Deep Space 1 to track stars with its imaging cameras. The team started radioing the new software on May 30, 2000. Unfortunately the spacecraft suffered a glitch, and deleted all the files. Deep Space 1 was still healthy however, so the files were transmitted again on June 8.

With the problems resolved, Deep Space 1 successfully made a flyby of comet Borrelly on September 22, 2001. The JPL team had low expectations from the aging spacecraft, but it was able to send back high quality images of the comet. The team was ecstatic, and Deep Space 1 became on of the most overly successful missions in NASA history. The Deep Space 1 mission, and extended mission, finally concluded on December 18, 2001.

The Targets

Deep Space 1's best image of Braille. Credit: NASA

Date Discovered: May 27, 1992

Designation: 9969 Braille (1992 KD)

Class: Mars-Crossing Asteroid

Radius: ~2 Kilometres

Rotational Period: 226.4 Hours (May by off by as much as 30%)

Orbital Period: 1307.2 Days (3.58 Years)

Deep Space 1's best image of Borrely. Credit: NASA/JPL

Date Discovered: December 28, 1904

Designation: 19P/Borrelly

Class: Jupiter-Family Comet

Radius: 4.8 Kilometres

Rotational Period: Unknown

Orbital Period: 2502.14 Days (6.85 Years)