[meteorite-list] New Launch Date for Deep Impact

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Apr 22 10:10:02 2004
Message-ID: <200304032214.OAA01713_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

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

New Launch Date for Deep Impact
Deep Impact Project
April 1, 2003

A new launch window is announced for the Deep Impact project, the first
mission to look deep inside a comet. Technical and management issues,
including contamination in the propulsion system and late deliveries of
key spacecraft components, resulted in delays in the pre-flight testing
schedule. These concerns led Deep Impact Principal Investigator, Mike
A'Hearn, to recommend to NASA a delay of launch. A launch window
beginning December 30, 2004, previously identified as a back-up date,
provides more thorough testing for the spacecraft systems before launch
and allows the spacecraft to arrive at Comet Tempel 1 to impact it as
originally scheduled on July, 4, 2005. NASA management approved the
recommendation.

Old Trajectory Diagram:
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/jpg/traj_old_color.jpg

New Trajectory Diagram:
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/jpg/traj_new_color.jpg

Deep Impact will be the first mission to make a spectacular,
football-stadium-sized crater, seven to 15 stories deep, into the
speeding comet. Dramatic images from both the flyby spacecraft and
the impactor will be sent back to distant Earth as data in near-realtime.
These first-ever views deep beneath a comet's surface, and additional
scientific measurements will provide clues to the formation of the
solar system. Amateur astronomers will combine efforts with astronomers
at larger telescopes to offer the public an earth-based look at this
incredible July 2005 encounter with a comet.
Received on Thu 03 Apr 2003 05:14:26 PM PST