[meteorite-list] crusing for a brusing

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Sun Mar 27 22:39:46 2005
Message-ID: <live419u5sqb34irmmkds20t37t9u2nc9h_at_4ax.com>

Or crusing TO a brusing, if you will.

http://www.nasa.gov/home/hqnews/2005/mar/HQ_05086_deep_impact.html


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

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


 March 25, 2005
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:
Received on Sun 27 Mar 2005 10:49:33 PM PST