1.   After transmitting reports about what they found, the spacecraft would then set up factories to build more spacecraft to head for the next nearest stars.

2.   But first, there is the question of whether the spacecraft will be built.

3.   Inaugurating a new commercial era, Space Imaging Inc., the private company in Thornton, Colo., that built the spacecraft, made the photograph public Tuesday.

4.   Lockheed Missiles and Space built the spacecraft.

5.   NASA has long relied on defense contractors to design and build its spacecraft.

6.   NASA is intrigued, because M-RAM could make it possible to build longer-lived spacecraft that perform more elaborate functions without requiring additional power.

7.   Now, in a time of austere budgets, the watchwords at NASA are smaller, faster and cheaper, and new spacecraft are built accordingly.

8.   The crew will also study soot and smoke distribution in space, important considerations in designing and building spacecraft, like the international space station.

9.   The principal investigator is Joseph Veverka, an astronomer at Cornell, and the spacecraft will be built at Johns Hopkins.

10.   The spacecraft was built by the Lockheed Martin Missile and Space Corp.