The name was derived from the combination of the two components of this extended flight: Extrasolar Planet Observations (EPOCh) and Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI). The data also showed that the comet was about 75% empty space.Īlthough Deep Impact’s primary mission was over, because the flyby vehicle still had plenty of propellant, on July 3, 2007, NASA approved a new supplemental mission for Deep Impact, known as EPOXI. Based on the results of Deep Impact’s investigations, scientists concluded that Comet Tempel 1 had probably originated in the Oort Cloud. The impactor also took images up to 3 seconds before impact that were transmitted via the flyby vehicle back to Earth.Ĭontrollers registered about 4,500 images from the three cameras over the next few days.
Simultaneous observations of the impact were coordinated with ground-based observatories as well as space-based ones, including the European Rosetta (which was about 50 million miles or 80 million kilometers from the comet), Hubble, Spitzer, the Swift X-ray telescope, and XMM-Newton. Minutes after the impact, the flyby probe passed the nucleus at a range of about 310 miles (500 kilometers) and took images of the crater (although it was obscured by the dust cloud), ejecta plume, and the entire nucleus. The impact generated an explosion the equivalent of 4.7 tons of TNT and a crater estimated to be about 490 feet (150 meters) in diameter. The probe was traveling at a relative velocity of about 23,000 miles per hour (37,000 kilometers per hour) at the time of impact. On July 3, 2005, at 06:00 UT (or 06:07 UT Earth-receive time), Deep Impact released the impactor probe, which, using small thrusters, moved into the path of the comet, where it hit the following day, July 4, at 05:44:58 UT. 11 and May 4, 2005) to reach Comet 9P/Tempel.Īs the spacecraft approached its target, it spotted two outbursts of activity from the comet on June 14 and June 22, 2005. The spacecraft traveled 267 million miles (429 million kilometers) in six months (including course corrections on Feb.
DEEP IMPACT 2 FULL
13, 2005, Deep Impact had returned to full operational mode following a program to tumble the vehicle using its thrusters. There were some initial moments of anxiety when it was discovered that the spacecraft had automatically entered safe mode shortly after entering heliocentric orbit. One of the more unusual payloads onboard was a compact disc with the names of 625,000 people collected as part of a campaign to “Send Your Name to a Comet!”Īfter launch, Deep Impact was put into low Earth orbit, then an elliptical orbit (about 100 x 2,600 miles or 163 × 4,170 kilometers), and after a third stage burn, the spacecraft and its PAM-D upper stage departed on an Earth escape trajectory. The impactor weighed 820 pounds (372 kilograms) and carried the impactor targeting sensor (ITS), nearly identical to the MRI, but without the filter wheel, which was designed to measure the impactor’s trajectory and to image the comet from close range before impact. The medium-resolution instrument (MRI) was the functional backup for the HRI, and like the HRI, it served as a navigation aid for Deep Impact. It combined a visible-light multi-spectral CCD camera (with a filter wheel) and an imaging infrared spectrometer called the spectral imaging module (SIM). The high-resolution instrument (HRI), the main science camera for Deep Impact, was one of the largest space-based instruments ever built for planetary science. The flyby spacecraft weighed 1,325 pounds (601 kilograms), was solar-powered, and carried two primary instruments. The spacecraft was comprised of two parts: the main flyby spacecraft and an impactor. Unlike previous cometary flyby missions, such as Vega, Giotto, and Stardust, the Deep Impact spacecraft, the eighth mission in NASA’s Discovery program, was intended to study the interior composition of a comet by deploying an impact probe that would collide with its target. 20, 2013: NASA ends efforts to contact spacecraft In Depth: Deep Impact (EPOXI)
Discovered that hyperactive comets are driven by carbon dioxide.Determined that a comet's surface layer is very porous.Deep Impact is history's most traveled deep-space comet hunter.NASA's Deep Impact mission ended in September 2013.The mission included an unprecedented 4th of July impact and subsequent flyby of a comet, an additional comet flyby, and the return of approximately 500,000 images of celestial objects.Deep Impact spent almost nine years in space.The spacecraft delivered a special impactor into the path of Tempel 1 to reveal never-before-seen materials and provide clues about the internal composition and structure of a comet. The primary mission of NASA's Deep Impact was to probe beneath the surface of a comet.
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