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Nature 417, 889 (27 June 2002) | doi:10.1038/417889a

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NASA launch heralds fresh wave of comet exploration

Tony Reichhardt

The planned launch of NASA's CONTOUR (Comet Nucleus Tour) spacecraft in Florida on 1 July will herald a period of intense comet exploration, the like of which has not been since an armada of spacecraft visited Halley's Comet in 1986.Between now and 2006, four spacecraft will either set off for, or return data from, the vicinity of a comet, capturing close-up images as well as dust and gas samples.