PUBLIC INFORMATION OFFICE 
JET PROPULSION LABORATORY 
CALIFORNIA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY 
NATIONAL AERONAUTICS AND SPACE ADMINISTRATION
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109. TELEPHONE (818) 354-5011 

PHOTO CAPTION                           JPL-29090
                                        November 21, 1997
                                        Deep Space 1 spacecraft

Deep Space 1 (DS1), to be launched in July 1998, is JPL's next 
venture into the solar system. Space missions have made many 
astonishing and impressive discoveries, but often at great 
expense. Now NASA is charting a new course with the New 
Millennium Program, seeking to make space exploration less 
expensive yet even more exciting. 

DS1, the first of the program's space flights, will test advanced 
technologies that are important for future affordable space 
science missions. These include ion propulsion and a host of 
other exotic systems that eventually will allow NASA to launch 
many missions per year rather than merely a few per decade. 
Throughout the flight, the technology payload will be exercised 
extensively so that subsequent space missions will be able to use 
the new capabilities with confidence. This bold mission will take 
risks so that future missions do not have to.

During its two-year journey, DS1 will visit asteroid McAuliffe, 
planet Mars, and comet West-Kohoutek-Ikemura, performing tests of 
its advanced science instruments during each encounter. 
Conducting science will prove that the technologies are 
compatible with the demands of future science missions and will 
ensure that this rare opportunity to encounter such a variety of 
fascinating solar system bodies during a short mission is fully 
exploited.

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