[meteorite-list] Deep Impact Update - March 25, 2005

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Fri Mar 25 17:40:46 2005
Message-ID: <200503252240.j2PMeIG25569_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

Dolores Beasley
Headquarters, Washington March 25, 2005
(Phone: 202/358-1753)

D.C. Agle
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
(Phone: 818/ 393-9011)

RELEASE: 05-086

NASA RELEASES DEEP IMPACT MISSION STATUS REPORT

NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft completed the commissioning
phase of the mission and has moved into the cruise phase.

Deep Impact mission planners have separated the spacecraft's
flight operations into five mission phases. Cruise phase will
continue until about 60 days before the encounter with comet
Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005.

Soon after launch on Jan. 12, 2005, Deep Impact entered the
commissioning phase. During that phase, the mission team
verified the basic state of health of all subsystems and
tested the operation of science instruments. The spacecraft's
autonomous navigation system was activated and tested using
the moon and Jupiter as targets.

The spacecraft's high gain antenna, which will relay images
and data of the cometary collision, was activated and is
operating properly. A trajectory correction maneuver was
performed, refining the spacecraft's flight path to comet
Tempel 1. The maneuver was so successful that a second one
planned for March 31 was cancelled.

Another event during commissioning phase was the bake-out
heating of the spacecraft's High Resolution Instrument (HRI)
to remove normal residual moisture from its barrel. The
moisture was a result of absorption into the structure of
the instrument during the vehicle's last hours on the launch
pad and its transit through the atmosphere to space.

At completion of the bake-out procedure, test images were
taken through the HRI. These images indicate the telescope
has not reached perfect focus. A special team has been
formed to investigate the performance and to evaluate
activities to bring the telescope the rest of the way to
focus. Future calibration tests will provide additional
information about the instruments' performance.

The Deep Impact spacecraft has four data collectors to
observe the effects of the collision: a camera and
infrared spectrometer comprise the High Resolution
Instrument; a Medium Resolution Instrument (MRI); and a
duplicate camera on the Impactor Targeting Sensor (ITS).
They will record the vehicle's final moments before it is
run over by comet Tempel 1 at approximately 23,000 mph.
The MRI and ITS are performing as expected.

"This in no way will affect our ability to impact the
comet on July 4," said Rick Grammier, Deep Impact project
manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena,
Calif. "Everyone on the science and engineering teams is
getting very excited and looking forward to the encounter."

Dr. Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland, College
Park, Md., added, "We are very early in the process of
examining the data from all the instruments. It appears
our infrared spectrometer is performing spectacularly, and
even if the spatial resolution of the High Resolution
Instrument remains at present levels, we still expect to
obtain the best, most detailed pictures of a comet ever
taken."

Deep Impact is comprised of two parts, a flyby spacecraft
and a smaller impactor. The impactor will be released
into the comet's path for the planned high-speed collision.
The crater produced by the impactor is expected to range
from the width of a house up to the size of a football
stadium and be from two to 14 stories deep. Ice and dust
debris will be ejected from the crater revealing the
material beneath.

Along with the imagers aboard the spacecraft, NASA's Hubble,
Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes, along with the
largest telescopes on Earth, will observe the effects of
the material flying from the comet's newly formed crater.

An intimate glimpse beneath the surface of a comet, where
material and debris from the formation of the solar system
remain relatively unchanged, will answer basic questions
about the formation of the solar system. The effects of the
collision will offer a better look at the nature and
composition of these celestial travelers.

The University of Maryland provides overall mission
management for this Discovery class program. Project
management is handled by JPL. The spacecraft was built
for NASA by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation,
Boulder, Colo.

For more information about Deep Impact on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov/deepimpact

For more information about NASA on the Internet, visit:

http://www.nasa.gov

-end-
Received on Fri 25 Mar 2005 05:40:18 PM PST