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The Comet Hopper mission was one of three Discovery Program finalists that received USD$3 million in May 2011 to develop a detailed concept study.[2]
The other two missions were InSight and Titan Mare Explorer. After a review in August 2012, NASA selected the InSight mission.[3]
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.[1][4] The final landing would occur at 1.5 AU.
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