Deep Impact Touches Comet Tempel 1 |
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Written by spacetravel.org
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Monday, 04 July 2005 22:07 |
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The coffee-table-sized impactor spacecraft of NASAs Deep Impact successfully touched comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, 1:52 AM EDT, after stalking the comet for 431 kilometers and 172 days. Official word of the impact came at 1:57 AM EDT, when an image from the spacecrafts medium resolution camera downlinked to the computer screens of the missions science team showed the signs of a high-speed impact.
The mission began on July 3 with impactor release at 2:07 AM EDT. The next 22 hours mostly consisted of deep space maneuvers by the automobile-sized flyby craft, final checkout of both spacecraft, and comet imaging. In the last two hours of its life, the impactor kicked into autonomous navigation mode. While the impactor was vaporizing itself in its ten kilometers per second crash with the comet, the flyby spacecraft monitored events from nearby. It collected and downlinked data for 14 minutes. At 2:05 AM EDT, the flyby stopped collecting data and entered shield mode, a defensive posture where dust shields protect the spacecrafts vital components during its closest passage through the comets inner coma. At 2:32 AM EDT, shield mode ended and mission control re-established the link with the flyby spacecraft.
The goal of the Deep Impact mission is to provide a view beneath a comets surface, where material remains relatively unchanged from the time when the Solar System was formed. Scientists believe that the project will help answer questions about the formation of the Solar System.
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