[meteorite-list] NASA Set To Launch First Comet Impact Probe (Deep Impact)

[Ron Baalke]

Donald Savage
Headquarters, Washington                     Dec. 14, 2004
(Phone: 202/358-1727)

D.C. Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/393-9011)

George Diller
Kennedy Space Center, Fla.
(Phone: 321/867-2468)

RELEASE: 04-392

NASA SET TO LAUNCH FIRST COMET IMPACT PROBE

    Launch and flight teams are in final preparations for the 
planned Jan. 12, 2005, liftoff from Cape Canaveral Air Force 
Station, Fla., of NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft. The mission 
is designed for a six-month, one-way, 431 million kilometer 
(268 million mile) voyage. Deep Impact will deploy a probe 
that essentially will be "run over" by the nucleus of comet 
Tempel 1 at approximately 37,000 kph (23,000 mph).

"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 (JPL), Pasadena, Calif. 
"It is going to be an exciting mission, and we can all 
witness its culmination together as Deep Impact provides the 
planet with its first man-made celestial fireworks on our 
nation's birthday, July 4th," he said. 

The fireworks will be courtesy of a 1-by-1-meter (39-by-39 
inches) copper-fortified probe. It is designed to obliterate 
itself, as it excavates a crater possibly large enough to 
swallow the Roman Coliseum. Before, during and after the 
demise of this 372-kilogram (820-pound) impactor, a nearby 
spacecraft will be watching the 6-kilometer (3.7-mile) 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 University of Maryland 
astronomy professor Dr. Michael A'Hearn, Deep Impact's 
principal investigator. "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," he explained.

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. Hundreds of miles below, 
professional and amateur astronomers on Earth will also be 
able to observe the material flying from the comet's newly 
formed crater.

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. "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." 
	
With a closing speed of about 37,000 kph (23,000 mph), what 
of the washing machine-sized impactor and its mountain-sized 
quarry?

"In the world of science, this is the astronomical equivalent 
of a 767 airliner running into a mosquito," said Don Yeomans, 
a Deep Impact mission scientist at JPL. "It simply will not 
appreciably modify the comet's orbital path. Comet Tempel 1 
poses no threat to the Earth now or in the foreseeable 
future," he added.

Ball Aerospace & Technologies in Boulder, Colo., built NASA's 
Deep Impact spacecraft. It was shipped to Florida Oct. 17 to 
begin final preparations for launch. Liftoff is scheduled for 
Jan. 8 at 1:39:50 p.m. EST, with another opportunity 40 
minutes later.

Principal Investigator A'Hearn leads the mission from the 
University of Maryland, College Park. JPL manages the Deep 
Impact project for the Science Mission Directorate at NASA 
Headquarters. Deep Impact is a mission in NASA's Discovery 
Program of moderately priced solar system exploration 
missions.

For more information about Deep Impact on the Internet, 
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/deepimpact

For more information about NASA and agency programs on the 
Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

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