Yeah, Channel 4 down here in Tucson had a story on it too, but they gave sole credit for the observations to Kitt Peak. No mention of LPL or the UofA or Spacewatch. I don't work for Kitt Peak, I just work ON Kitt Peak. I'll have to ask some of my friends who work for Kitt Peak how they managed those observations.... :-) I talked to one reporter today and I know my colleagues have also been talking to the press. Sure hope the spacecraft is still alive, but it doesn't look good. Jim. On Fri, 16 Aug 2002 trisha@brasher.com wrote: > The story was on the news (ch 12) tonight, when they said that (nobody > could find the spacecraft) until "observers" on Kitt Peak located it, > I thought immediately of you, Jim, and was hoping to see an on the air > interview! > > Trisha "Lightning" > > waiting for transporter technology to be perfected....or Warp drive > first! > > > On Fri, 16 August 2002, Jim Scotti wrote: > > > > > I hear this spacecraft failure is being blamed on geocaching after a > > local > > park official found a suspicious tupperware container marked with the > > geocaching website only 7.6 miles from the launch pad.... > > > > Seriously, it's too bad it looks like the CONTOUR spacecraft has been > > lost. > > It was a great opportunity to learn more about comets. > Unfortunately, > > we > > have not yet perfected spaceflight - when we do, I'll look forward to > > geocaching on Mars! > > > > Jim. > > > > On Fri, 16 Aug 2002, Jim Stamm wrote: > > > > > I know this is OT, but interesting never-the-less: > > > > > > > >On Fri, 16 Aug 2002, Ed Cannon wrote: > > > > > > > >> "CONTOUR Spacecraft Possibly Destroyed, NASA > Says" > > > >> > > > >> "... [CONTOUR Mission Director Robert] Farquhar > said late Friday > > that > > > >> images from a ground-based telescope of two unknown > objects about > > 250 > > > >> kilometers apart appeared to be pieces of the > comet-chasing > > craft. He > > > >> said more investigation was needed to confirm the > suspicion and > > that a > > > >> concerted search effort would continue at least > through Monday in > > the > > > >> meantime. ... > > > >> > > > >> "In a teleconference with reporters Friday > evening, Farquhar said > > the > > > >> craft's engines had almost certainly fired and that it > was no > > longer > > > >> in Earth orbit." > > > >> > > > >> Source: > > > >> > > > >> href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/contour_telecon_020816.html">http://www.space.com/missionlaunches/contour_telecon_020816.html > > > > > > > > > > > Then, one of ours posted: > > > > > > > >As the observer who got the images of the spacecraft, it's > > certainly a sad > > > >day for comet research. Our images (in the following URL) > show two > > trails > > > >rather than the one expected, so something catastrophic > must have > > happened. > > > >Previous spacecraft, like NEAR had two trails as well as the > > booster was > > > >ejected, but I guess that was not supposed to happen to > CONTOUR. I > > wonder > > > >what the two pieces are? The spacecraft was at about the > -3% of > > from nominal > > > >burn location, so the engine burn was completed or nearly > so. > > > > > > > > href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/contour.html">http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/contour.html > > > > href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/Jeff/contour.jpg">http://spacewatch.lpl.arizona.edu/Jeff/contour.jpg > > > > > > > >The first URL describes the image, the second is the image. > The > > spacecraft > > > >is in a very dense star field near the Galactic plane, so > in order > > to see it, > > > >I subtracted the 2nd image from the first so the first > image is the > > white > > > >pair, the second is the dark pair and the residual signal > from the > > field > > > >stars appear as conjoined black/white pairs since they don't > > perfectly > > > >subtract out. > > > > > > > >Jim Scotti > > > >Lunar & Planetary Laboratory > jscotti@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu > > > >University of Arizona > > > >Tucson, AZ 85721 USA > > href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti">http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/ > > > > > > > > >----------------------------------------------------------------- > > > >Unsubscribe from SeeSat-L by sending a message with > 'unsubscribe' > > > >in the SUBJECT to SeeSat-L-request@lists.satellite.eu.org > > > > href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html">http://www.satellite.eu.org/seesat/seesatindex.html > > > > > > _______________________________________________ > > > Az-Geocaching mailing list > > > listserv@azgeocaching.com > > > href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching">http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching > > > > > > Arizona's Geocaching Resource > > > href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://www.azgeocaching.com">http://www.azgeocaching.com > > > > > > > Jim Scotti > > Lunar & Planetary Laboratory > jscotti@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu > > University of Arizona > > Tucson, AZ 85721 USA > > href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti">http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/ > > > > _______________________________________________ > > Az-Geocaching mailing list > > listserv@azgeocaching.com > > href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching">http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching > > > > Arizona's Geocaching Resource > > href="http://mail.brasher.com//jump/http://www.azgeocaching.com">http://www.azgeocaching.com > > > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > "Although no one can go back and > make a brand new start, > Anyone can start from now and > make a brand new ending." > ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ > _______________________________________________ > Az-Geocaching mailing list > listserv@azgeocaching.com > http://listserv.azgeocaching.com/mailman/listinfo/az-geocaching > > Arizona's Geocaching Resource > http://www.azgeocaching.com > Jim Scotti Lunar & Planetary Laboratory jscotti@pirl.lpl.arizona.edu University of Arizona Tucson, AZ 85721 USA http://www.lpl.arizona.edu/~jscotti/