Orbital Deep Space 1 - Manual

Planetary
Exploration
Mission Description
Deep Space 1 (DS1) was the first of NASA's New Millennium series of low-cost, high return technology
demonstration spacecraft. Launched on October 24, 1998, DS1 demonstrated 12 technologies and
was the first interplanetary spacecraft to utilize a solar electric (ion) engine as its primary means of
propulsion. DS1 technologies included concentrator solar arrays, new communications equipment,
autonomous optical navigation, a miniaturized camera, an imaging spectrometer, and the Xenon
Ion Propulsion System (XIPS). The XIPS provided about 10 times the specific impulse (ratio of thrust
to propellant used) of that of chemical propulsion. DS1 was also the first spacecraft to employ
autonomous navigation in deep space.
DS1's camera and spectrometer took pictures and collected composite data of asteroid Braille when it
came to within 16 miles during the space vehicle's fly-by in July 1999. In September 1999, NASA sent
DS1 on an extended mission to conduct comet science. In September 2001, DS1 executed a flawless
encounter with comet Borrelly at about 137 million miles from Earth, yielding the best pictures and other
scientific data ever collected at a comet to date.
DS1 had traveled nearly 1.5 billion miles in its Highly Elliptical Orbit (HEO) to intersect Borrelly's path.
DS1 came to within 1,400 miles of the comet. The mission was again extended for a few more months
of renewed technology testing, devoting some time to all of the hardware technologies. DS1 was finally
retired after 1,151 days (3.2 years) of operation in space on December 18, 2001 with its fuel supply
exhausted. The ion engine had operated for 16,246 hours and had consumed about 72 kilograms of
xenon propellant.
Spacecraft
DS1 was designed and developed in a cooperative effort between NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory
and Orbital. The high-performance bus structure and avionics developed for DS1 evolved into Orbital's
LEOStar
™ -3 standard bus.
• A NASA/JPL-Orbital joint effort
• Launched October 1998 into a Highly
Elliptical Orbit (HEO) with a 1-year
design life
• DS1 successfully completed a flyby of
asteroid Braille in July 1999
• DS1 successfully completed a flyby of
comet Borrelly in September 2001
• 12 breakthrough technologies
demonstrated during mission
• Mission terminated with fuel
exhausted at 3.2 years after flying 1.5
billion miles
• DS1 was the first interplanetary
spacecraft to utilize a solar electric
(ion) engine as its primary means of
propulsion
• DS1 was the first to employ
autonomous navigation in deep space
Customer:
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
FACTS AT A GLANCE
Deep Space 1
NASA New Millennium Program Technology Demonstration Spacecraft
LEO