NASA's Deep Impact Spacecraft Preps for July 4 Fireworks

DEEP IMPACT

Contrary to optimistic predictions, you're unlikely to see anything of this event with your unaided eye. But you can at least see the place in the sky where it's happening.

Your location will be important. The crash is set to happen at 10:52 p.m. Pacific Daylight Time on July 3rd (1:52 a.m. Eastern Daylight Time on the morning of July 4th).

At that moment, the comet will be well placed in a dark sky from the western United States, especially the Southwest. But for much of the eastern United States and Canada the comet will have already slipped below the horizon.

"Anyone west of the Mississippi River has a chance of seeing the comet when Deep Impact slams into it," says Kelly Beatty, executive editor of Sky & Telescope magazine. See full story on watching the impact

Pasadena CA (JPL) Jul 03, 2005
NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft continues to sail through its final checkout, as it hurtles toward comet Tempel 1. Impact with the comet is scheduled for 1:52 a.m. EDT, July 4 (10:52 p.m. PDT, July 3).

"The time of comet encounter is near and the major mission milestones are getting closer and closer together," said Rick Grammier, Deep Impact project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.

"After all the years of design, training and simulations, we are where we want to be. The flight and science teams are working the mission plan, and we are good to go for encounter."

Deep Impact consists of a subcompact-car-sized flyby spacecraft and an impactor, about the size of a washing machine. The dual spacecraft carry three imaging instruments, two on the flyby and one on the impactor.

Several major mission milestones occurred during the past week. The mission's third trajectory correction maneuver was successfully executed on June 23.

The burn of the spacecraft's motors changed Deep Impact's speed by 13 miles per hour. Another trajectory correction for final targeting before impactor release is scheduled for 8:00 p.m. EDT July 2 (5:00 p.m. PDT).

Mission planners separated the spacecraft's flight operations into six mission phases. The phases are launch, commissioning, cruise, approach, encounter and playback. The five-day encounter phase incorporates the final approach to the comet and transmission to Earth of collected data.

"We've completed the final pre-release checkout of the impactor. The impactor probe will have a short, 24 hour life from release to impact, but an incredibly important role," said Dave Spencer, Deep Impact mission manager at JPL.

The impactor has an auto-navigation system that will make final corrections to its flight path just minutes before the scheduled collision. Scientists hope the resulting crater will expose fresh material from below the comet's surface and subsurface.

"That is the whole point of Deep Impact," said mission principal investigator and University of Maryland astronomer Dr. Michael A'Hearn. "We want to find out what are the guts of a comet."

The flyby spacecraft will use medium and high resolution imagers and an infrared spectrometer to collect and send to Earth pictures and spectra of the event. Spaceborne science platforms will also be watching Deep Impact.

These include NASA's Hubble and Spitzer space telescopes, the Chandra X-ray Observatory, the Swift and Submillimeter Wave Astronomy satellites, the European Space Agency's XMM-Newton X-ray observatory and Rosetta spacecraft. Observatories on Earth will view the impact and its aftermath.

The final prelude to impact begins early on July 3 EDT (July 2 PDT), when the flyby spacecraft releases the impactor into the path of the onrushing comet. The release is scheduled at 1:52 a.m. EDT, 24 hours before impact (10:52 p.m. PDT).

The 820-pound impactor will collide with the comet's nucleus at a closing speed of 37,000 kilometers per hour (23,000 miles per hour). Scientists expect the impact to create a large crater. The impact will eject ice, dust and gas from the crater and reveal the pristine material beneath. The impact will have no significant effect on the comet's orbit, which poses no threat to Earth.

DEEP IMPACT

Rosetta Gets First Glimpse Of Deep Impact Target

Paris, France (ESA) Jul 01, 2005
ESA's Rosetta comet-chaser spacecraft has acquired its first view of the Deep Impact target, Comet 9P/Tempel 1. This first Rosetta image of the Deep Impact campaign was taken by its Navigation Camera (NAVCAM) between 08:45 and 09:15 CEST on 28 June 2005.

Deep Impact Mission Could Help Earth's Defence Against Space Rocks

Paris (AFP) Jun 30, 2005
An extraordinary US mission to whack a passing comet may indirectly provide a windfall for guardians monitoring any space rocks that could hit Earth.

How To See NASA's Comet Crash In The Sky

Cambridge MA (SPX) Jun 29, 2005
When NASA's Deep Impact slams an 800-pound projectile into Comet Tempel 1 at 23,000 miles per hour, the collision should create quite a splash.

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