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Comet Hopper

Concept art of Comet Hopper
Names	CHopper
Mission type	Comet exploration
Operator	NASA
Mission duration	Proposed (Cancelled): 7.3 years
Spacecraft properties
Manufacturer	UMD Lockheed Martin Goddard
Start of mission
Launch date	2016
Rocket	Atlas V
Launch site	Cape Canaveral, LC-41
Contractor	ULA
46P/Wirtanen lander
Landing date	2022
Instruments CHIRS CHopper Infrared Spectrometer CHIMS CHopper Ion/Neutral Mass Spectrometer CHI CHopper Imager CHEX CHopper Heating Experiment PanCams Panoramic Cameras
Discovery Program

Comet Hopper (CHopper) was a proposed lander to NASA's Discovery Program that, had it been selected, would have orbited and landed multiple times on Comet Wirtanen as it approached the Sun. The proposed mission was led by Jessica Sunshine of the UMD, working with Lockheed Martin to build the spacecraft and the NASA Goddard Spaceflight Center to manage the mission.

History

The Comet Hopper mission was one of three Discovery Program finalists that received US$3 million in May 2011 to develop a detailed concept study.

The other two missions were InSight and Titan Mare Explorer. After a review in August 2012, NASA selected the InSight mission.

Scientific goals

The CHopper mission had three primary science goals for the 7.3 years of its lifetime. At roughly 4.5 AU the spacecraft would have rendezvoused with Comet Wirtanen to map the spatial heterogeneity of surface solids as well as gas and dust emissions from the coma - the nebulous envelope around the nucleus of a comet. The remote mapping would also allow for any nucleus structure, geologic processes, and coma mechanisms to be determined. After arriving at Comet Wirtanen, the spacecraft would have approached and landed, then subsequently hopped to other locations on the comet. As the comet approached the sun, the spacecraft would land and hop multiple times to record surface changes as the comet became more active. The final landing would occur at 1.5 AU.

See also

• Champollion (spacecraft)
• Mars Geyser Hopper
• Rosetta (spacecraft)
• Triton Hopper

References

1. ^ "Planetary Science Division Update" (PDF). NASA. Archived from the original (PDF) on November 14, 2011. Retrieved May 23, 2011.
2. Taylor, Kate (9 May 2011). "NASA picks project shortlist for next Discovery mission". TG Daily. Archived from the original on 6 October 2018. Retrieved 28 October 2015.
3. Vastag, Brian (August 20, 2012). "NASA will send robot drill to Mars in 2016". The Washington Post.
4. "Maryland scientists vie for NASA missions". The Baltimore Sun. Archived from the original on September 26, 2012. Retrieved June 2, 2011.

External links

Press Releases

• NASA Goddard Managed Comet Hopper Mission Selected for Further Study Archived 2021-12-05 at the Wayback Machine
• Comet Hopper, a UMD/NASA Goddard Proposal, Moves to 'Final Round' in NASA Selection Process

News Articles

• Maryland scientists vie for NASA missions

v t e NASA Planetary Missions Program Office
Discovery program Missions Main NEAR Shoemaker Mars Pathfinder Lunar Prospector Stardust Genesis CONTOUR MESSENGER Deep Impact Dawn Kepler GRAIL InSight Lucy Psyche VERITAS DAVINCI Opportunity ASPERA-3 EPOXI NExT Moon Mineralogy Mapper Strofio MEGANE Proposals Finalists Mission 12 Comet Hopper Titan Mare Explorer Mission 13 and 14 NEOCam Mission 15 and 16 Io Volcano Observer Trident Candidates Enceladus Life Finder Icebreaker Life ISOCHRON JET LIFE MANTIS Mars Geyser Hopper Moon Diver PADME Phobos Surveyor Whipple
New Frontiers program Missions New Horizons Juno OSIRIS-REx Dragonfly Proposals Finalists Mission 2 MoonRise Mission 3 MoonRise SAGE Mission 4 CAESAR Candidates CONDOR CORSAIR ELF ELSAH Oceanus SPRITE VICI VISAGE VOX
Solar System Exploration program Missions DART JUICE instruments Europa Clipper
Underline indicates active current missions Italics indicate missions yet to launch Symbol indicates failure en route or before intended mission data returned

v t e Spacecraft missions to minor planets and comets
List of minor planets and comets visited by spacecraft List of artificial objects on extraterrestrial surfaces
Active	New Horizons (multiple flybys) OSIRIS-APEX (orbiter) Hayabusa2♯ (lander) Lucy (multiple flybys) Psyche (orbiter) Hera (orbiter) AIDA
Past	Flybys Cassini–Huygens Chang'e 2 Clementine CONTOUR Deep Impact EPOXI Deep Space 1 Galileo Halley Armada Giotto Sakigake Suisei Vega 1 Vega 2 International Cometary Explorer LICIACube NEA Scout NEAR Shoemaker Pioneer 7 PROCYON Rosetta Stardust Ulysses Orbiters Dawn NEAR Shoemaker Rosetta Timeline Landers Hayabusa MINERVA Hayabusa2 MASCOT Rover-1A / HIBOU Rover-1B / OWL Rover-2 NEAR Shoemaker Philae Impactors Deep Impact DART AIDA Sample return Hayabusa Hayabusa2 Stardust OSIRIS-REx
Planned	Tianwen-2 (multiple flybys and sample return, 2025) DESTINY+ (multiple flybys, 2028) MBR Explorer (multiple flybys and orbiter, 2028) Comet Interceptor (flyby, 2029)
Proposed	Shensuo (flybys, 2024) ASTER (orbiter, 2025) Ramses (2029) Interstellar Probe (flyby, 2030–2042)
Cancelled or not developed	AGORA AIM Asteroid Redirect Mission Athena CAESAR Castalia Centaurus Chimera Clementine 2 Comet Hopper CONDOR CORSAIR CRAF Don Quijote HAMMER Hayabusa Mk2 Janus MAOSEP MANTIS Marco Polo New Horizons 2 OKEANOS Vesta
Related	Asteroid belt Asteroid capture Asteroid mining Colonization of asteroids Ceres Pluto Exploration Small Solar System bodies Near-Earth object Trans-Neptunian object Colonization Trojan Vesta
Probes are listed in chronological order of launch. indicates mission failures.

• Cancelled spacecraft
• Missions to comets
• Advanced Stirling radioisotope generator
• Discovery program proposals
• Hopping spacecraft