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D.C. Boice (SwRI), R. Wegmann (MPIA), J.-I. Watanabe (NAOJ)
The Deep Space 1 Mission is scheduled to encounter comet 19P/Borrelly in September 2001. For the successful outcome of this mission, knowledge of basic properties of the cometary environment is needed. A comet coma model is presented for 19P/Borrelly that consistently represents the dusty cometary environment from the irregularly shaped nucleus surface to the solar wind interaction region with detailed photo and gas-phase chemisty, dust entrainment by the gas with fragmentation and distributed gaseous sources, separate energy balance for electrons, ions, and neutrals, and separate flow of the neutral gas, plasma, and fast atomic and molecular hydrogen. Neutral gas and plasma dynamics and spatial distributions of various cometary species are presented for scientific planning and risk assessment for the Deep Space 1 encounter. The visibility of the nucleus embedded in the dust coma is addressed. Predictions of x-ray emissions are made for coordinating in situ plasma measurements with Earth-based observations as well as other predictions for planning experiments during the encounter.
We wish to acknowledge funding from NASA for the Deep Space 1 Science Team.