[meteorite-list] Deep Impact Spacecrat Status Report - January 13, 2005

[Ron Baalke]

Gretchen Cook-Anderson/Dolores Beasley
Headquarters, Washington
(Phone: 202/358-0836/1753)

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

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

RELEASE: 06-05

DEEP IMPACT SPACECRAFT STATUS REPORT
January 13, 2005

NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft is out of safe mode, healthy and on its 
way to an encounter with comet Tempel 1 on July 4.

Launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on Wednesday, the Deep 
Impact spacecraft entered a state called "safe mode" soon after 
entering orbit. When a spacecraft enters safe mode, all but essential 
spacecraft systems are turned off until it receives new commands from 
mission control. When Deep Impact separated from the launch vehicle, 
the spacecraft's computer detected temperatures higher than expected 
in the propulsion system.

While in the safe mode, the spacecraft successfully executed all 
mission events associated with commencing space flight operations. 
Data received from the spacecraft indicate it has deployed and locked 
its solar panels, is receiving power and has achieved proper 
orientation in space.

"We are out of safe mode and proceeding with in-flight operations," 
said Deep Impact project manager Rick Grammier of NASA's Jet 
Propulsion Laboratory. "We're back on a nominal timeline and look 
forward to our encounter with comet Tempel 1 this summer."

Deep Impact consists of two parts: a "fly-by" spacecraft and a smaller 
"impactor." The impactor will be released into the comet's path for a 
planned collision on July 4. The crater produced by the impactor may 
as large as a football stadium and two to 14 stories deep. Ice and 
dust debris will be ejected from the crater, revealing the material 
beneath.

The fly-by spacecraft will observe the effects of the collision. 
NASA's Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes, along with other 
telescopes on Earth, will also observe the collision.

Comets are time capsules that hold clues about the formation and 
evolution of the Solar System. They are composed of ice, gas and 
dust, primitive debris from the Solar System's distant and coldest 
regions that formed 4.5 billion years ago.

The management of the Deep Impact launch was the responsibility of 
NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Florida. Deep Impact was launched from 
Pad 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Delta II launch service 
was provided by Boeing Expendable Launch Systems of Huntington Beach, 
Calif. The spacecraft was built for NASA by Ball Aerospace and 
Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colo. Deep Impact project 
management is overseen by JPL.

For more information about the mission on the Web, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/deepimpact

or

http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/ 

For information about NASA and other Agency programs on the Web, 
visit:

http://www.nasa.gov
	
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