Impact with comet Tempel 1.

Overview

Deep Impact, NASA’s eighth discovery mission, accomplished its remarkable goal of colliding with deep-space comet Tempel 1 and excavating material from the nucleus of the comet on the Fourth of July, 2005. The encounter occurred in Deep Space, nearly 83 million miles from Earth.

Using its onboard instruments, Deep Impact observed the nucleus of comet Tempel 1 giving scientists an unprecedented view of the characteristics of comets and pristine materials inside them.

EPOXI Mission

The Deep Impact science team has used the surviving Deep Impact Flyby spacecraft for two NASA Discovery assignments – the Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI), and the Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh), together known as the EPOXI mission. The planet-hunting phase ended in mid-2008, but in the fall of 2010, the Flyby spacecraft will capture imagery and spectra of Comet Hartley 2.

Our Role

Ball Aerospace was the mission prime contractor for the Deep Impact mission with responsibility for the two-part spacecraft: the Impactor spacecraft and Flyby spacecraft; and three high resolution cameras; algorithm development; environmental testing; and launch and mission support.

Many Ball Aerospace-built instruments were also involved in recording the Deep Impact collision. Three of NASA’s Great Observatories – Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra – were tasked for the event. Ball Aerospace played a significant role in each of these observatories.

Collision in Space

The two-part spacecraft launched together in January 12, 2005 and separated 24 hours before reaching its target. The Impactor made of copper, as to not to interfere with spectral analysis, separated from the Flyby spacecraft and autonomously positioned itself directly in front of the encroaching Tempel 1 comet.

With closing speeds of 23,000 mph, the Impactor’s active guidance system steered it to impact on a sunlit portion of the comet’s surface. As it closed in on Tempel 1, the Impactor’s camera relayed close-up images of the comet’s surface to the Flyby spacecraft for downlink to Earth. Meanwhile, the Flyby spacecraft used its two instruments to image the impact and then continued to photograph the comet as it followed its orbital path around the Sun. The primary science data was returned to Earth in near real-time, and all data was returned to Earth within one day of the encounter.

Deep Impact Celebrates 5 Years Since Impact

On July 4, 2010, Deep Impact marked its fifth anniversary of the exciting impact event. To relive the achievment, watch this video: