deep impact

PASADENA — The Fourth of July began with a bang here early Monday morning as NASA’s Deep Impact mission collided with history. [1]

The primary task (DIXI or Deep Impact eXtended Investigation) is to fly past comet Hartley 2 in 2010. [2]

This animation shows a conceptualized view of Deep Impact’s encounter with comet Tempel 1. [3]

“There is a comet up in the sky wondering, what in the heck just happened,” said JPL director Charles Elachi during a post-collision press conference. [1]

Along the way (Jan-Aug 2008) the spacecraft observed planets around other stars (EPOCh). [...] Although the original Deep Impact mission is done, the spacecraft is in working order. [2]

The $333 million mission to crash an 820-pound (371-kilogram) Impactor probe into the avocado-shaped Comet Tempel 1 and record the event via a Flyby mothership was a complete success. [1]

It was designed to study the composition of the comet interior of 9P/Tempel, by releasing an impactor into the comet. [4]

Take a tour through the Gallery and see all of our images, animations and drawings. [3]

Deep Impact is a NASA space probe launched on January 12, 2005. [4]

Unless a comet can be destroyed before colliding with Earth, only those allowed into shelters will survive. [5]

Browse through our gallery of images and videos. [2]

The Deep Impact was reported as healthy after managing to track Impactor’s collision with Tempel 1 down to about 50 meters, then turn its imaging lenses away from the comet to guard them from debris as the spacecraft passed underneath the nucleus. [1]

NASA gave it two new tasks under the mission name of EPOXI. [2]

Artist’s conception of the Deep Impact space probe after impactor separation. [4]

Sources:
[1] Afterglow: NASA Laud’s Deep Impact’s Comet Collision | Space.com
[2] Deep Impact: Your First Look Inside a Comet!
[3] Deep Impact: Gallery:
[4] Deep Impact (spacecraft) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
[5] Deep Impact (1998) - IMDb

Comments are closed.