NASA Set to Launch First Comet Impact Probe

December 15, 2004 - Launch and flight teams are in final preparations for the planned liftoff from Cape Canaveral of NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft on 12 January 2005. The mission is designed for a six-month and 431 million kilometre voyage. Deep Impact will shoot a bullet to the comet Tempel 1 at approximately 37,000 kilometres per hour.

"From central Florida to the surface of a comet in six months is almost instant gratification from a deep space mission viewpoint," said Rick Grammier, Deep Impact project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

The 1-by-1 meter copper-fortified probe is designed to obliterate (destroy) itself as it excavates a crater possibly large enough to swallow the Roman Coliseum. Before, during and after the demise (transfer) of this 372-kilogram impactor, a nearby spacecraft will be watching the 6-kilometer-wide comet nucleus, collecting pictures and data of the event.

"We will be capturing the whole thing on the most powerful camera to fly in deep space," said Dr. Michael A'Hearn from the University of Michigan. "We know so little about the structure of cometary nuclei that we need exceptional equipment to ensure that we capture the event, whatever the details of the impact turn out to be."

Imagery and other data from the Deep Impact cameras will be sent back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space Network. But they will not be the only eyes on the prize. NASA's Chandra, Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes will be observing from near-Earth space

Deep Impact will provide a glimpse beneath the surface of a comet, where material and debris from the solar system's formation remain relatively unchanged. Mission scientists are confident the project will answer basic questions about the formation of the solar system, by offering a better look at the nature and composition of the celestial travelers we call comets.

"Understanding conditions that lead to the formation of planets is a goal of NASA's mission of exploration," said Andy Dantzler, acting director of the Solar System division at NASA Headquarters, Washington, D.C. "Deep Impact is a bold, innovative and exciting mission which will attempt something never done before to try to uncover clues about our own origins."

Quick facts: Deep Impact Probe
Special feature:		First comet impact probe
Mission start:		12 January 2005
Launch vehicle:		Delta II
Arrival at the comet Tempel 1:		4 July 2005
Mission status:		Primary mission was succesful