[meteorite-list] crusing for a brusing

From: Darren Garrison <cynapse_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu Mar 31 00:02:13 2005
Message-ID: <631n41t9mvrd4v1ag33vv2g8sshmcrpeph_at_4ax.com>

On Wed, 30 Mar 2005 23:38:16 -0500, "Greg Redfern" <gredfern_at_earthlink.net> wrote:


>DI will give us data to determine these physical characteristics PLUS see
>inside a cometary body for the first time in history. We have seen the

At least, you hope:

http://dsc.discovery.com/news/briefs/20050328/deepimpact.html

Comet Smasher Has Cloudy Vision
By Irene Mona Klotz, Discovery News

March 28, 2005 ? Engineers are considering options to restore or work around a problem with a
high-resolution telescope on NASA's comet-smashing Deep Impact probe.

The spacecraft, which was launched Jan. 12, is on track to encounter its target, Comet Tempel 1, on
July 4.

Deep Impact, as its name implies, will release a copper-tipped projectile into the path of the
comet.

Flying through space at 23,000 mph, the comet is expected to strike the coffee-table sized impactor
with the force of 4 1/2 tons of dynamite, in the process carving out a hole in its body that could
be as large as a stadium.

Scientists are eager to study the inside of a comet for more clues about how our solar system
formed. Comets not only contain original materials from the birth of the solar system 4.5 billion
years ago; they also are believed to have played a vital role in nurturing Earth by delivering water
and organic matter.

On Friday, however, the space agency had more immediate concerns. An investigative team has been
named to try to come up with options for restoring Deep Impact's High Resolution Imager to perfect
focus.

For weeks, spacecraft operators have been trying to bake out residual moisture from the telescope's
barrel, but those attempts have not worked.

"We are very early in the process of examining the data from all the instruments," said Deep Impact
lead scientist Michael A'Hearn, with the University of Maryland in College Park.

"Even if the spatial resolution of the High Resolution Imager remains at present levels, we still
expect to obtain the best, most detailed pictures of a comet ever taken."

Added project manager Rick Grammier, with NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, Calif.,
"This in no way will affect our ability to impact the comet."

Engineers believe the moisture seeped into the telescope during the final hours before launch from
Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida and during the rocket ride through the atmosphere.

After allowing the telescope to heat up, the Deep Impact team took test pictures, but the images
indicate the instrument has not reached perfect focus, NASA said in a statement.

The High Resolution Instrument includes both a camera and an infrared spectrometer. The spacecraft
also has a Medium Resolution Instrument and a duplicate camera on the impactor, which will record
and radio data until it is run over by the comet.

Both the Medium Resolution Instrument and the sensors on the impactor are working as expected, NASA
said.
Received on Thu 31 Mar 2005 12:06:03 AM PST