NASA Comet Chaser Program

The NASA Comet Chaser Program was a two part long term scientific study of two well known comets that pass through the Solar System. NASA's chaser program built two spacecraft drones which would rendezvous with Halley's Comet and Comet Hale-Bopp and follow the two comets on their paths until their returns to the Earth.

Hale-Bopp Chaser
Comet Hale–Bopp (formally designated C/1995 O1) was the most widely observed comet of the 20th century and one of the brightest seen for many decades. It was visible to the naked eye for a record 18 months, twice as long as the previous record holder, the Great Comet of 1811. Hale–Bopp was discovered on July 23, 1995, at a great distance from the Sun, raising expectations that the comet would brighten considerably by the time it passed close to Earth. Hale–Bopp became visible to the naked eye in May 1996, and although its rate of brightening slowed considerably during the latter half of that year, scientists were still cautiously optimistic that it would become very bright. It was too closely aligned with the Sun to be observable during December 1996, but when it reappeared in January 1997 it was already bright enough to be seen by anyone who looked for it, even from large cities with light-polluted skies. The comet became a spectacular sight in early 1997.

In September of 2030, Union of Everett Kuiper Belt research vessels launched the Hale-Bopp Chaser, which would target and rendezvous with Hale-Bopp in 2033. At a distance from the Sun of over 60 AU, Hale-Bopp Chaser locked into a gravity hold with Comet Hale-Bopp. The Hale-Bopp Chaser contains a large time capsule with over 100 terabytes of data. Comet Hale-Bopp, along with the Chaser, are expected to return to Earth in 4385 AD.