The Plasma Experiment for Planetary Exploration (PEPE is being installed on the spacecraft in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility.

The Plasma Experiment for Planetary Exploration (PEPE), one of two advanced science experiments flying on the Deep Space 1 mission, is being installed on the spacecraft in the Payload Hazardous Servicing Facility. PEPE combines several instruments that study space plasma into one compact 13-pound (6-kilogram) package. Space plasma is composed of charged particles, most of wich flow outward from the Sun. The first flight in NASA's New Millennium Program, Deep Space 1 is designed to validate 12 new technologies for scientific space missions of the next century. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch during a period opening Oct. 15 and closing Nov. 10, 1998. Most of its mission objectives will be competed within the first two months. A near-Earth asteroid, 1992 KD, has also been selected for a possible flyby.