PDS logoPlanetary Data System
PDS Information
Find a Node - Use these links to navigate to any of the 8 publicly accessible PDS Nodes.

This bar indicates that you are within the PDS enterprise which includes 6 science discipline nodes and 2 support nodes which are overseen by the Project Management Office at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). Each node is led by an expert in the subject discipline, supported by an advisory group of other practitioners of that discipline, and subject to selection and approval under a regular NASA Research Announcement.
Click here to return to the Photojournal Home Page Click here to view a list of Photojournal Image Galleries Photojournal_inner_header
Latest Images  |  Spacecraft & Technology  |  Animations  |  Space Images App  |  Feedback  |  Photojournal Search  

PIA04604: Deep Space 1 Using its Ion Engine (Artist's Concept)
 Target Name:  Borrelly
 Mission:  Deep Space 1 (DS1) 
 Spacecraft:  Deep Space 1
 Instrument:  Ion Engine 
 Product Size:  1418 x 1112 pixels (w x h)
 Produced By:  JPL
 Full-Res TIFF:  PIA04604.tif (3.989 MB)
 Full-Res JPEG:  PIA04604.jpg (140.6 kB)

Click on the image above to download a moderately sized image in JPEG format (possibly reduced in size from original)

Original Caption Released with Image:

NASA's New Millennium Deep Space 1 spacecraft approaching the comet 19P/Borrelly. With its primary mission to serve as a technology demonstrator--testing ion propulsion and 11 other advanced technologies--successfully completed in September 1999, Deep Space 1 is now headed for a risky, exciting rendezvous with Comet Borrelly. NASA extended the mission, taking advantage of the ion propulsion and other systems to target the daring encounter with the comet in September 2001. Once a sci-fi dream, the ion propulsion engine has powered the spacecraft for over 12,000 hours. Another onboard experiment includes software that tracks celestial bodies so the spacecraft can make its own navigation decisions without the intervention of ground controllers. The first flight in NASA's New Millennium Program, Deep Space 1 was launched October 24, 1998 aboard a Boeing Delta 7326 rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Station, FL. Deep Space 1 successfully completed and exceeded its mission objectives in July 1999 and flew by a near-Earth asteroid, Braille (1992 KD), in September 1999.

Image Credit:
NASA/JPL

Image Addition Date:
2003-07-02