[meteorite-list] NASA EPOXI Flyby Reveals New Insights Into Comet Features

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 4 Nov 2010 15:44:44 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201011042244.oA4MiiDF010190_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-373

NASA EPOXI Flyby Reveals New Insights Into Comet Features
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
November 04, 2010

PASADENA, Calif. - NASA's EPOXI mission spacecraft successfully flew
past comet Hartley 2 at 7 a.m. PDT (10 a.m. EDT) Thursday, Nov. 4.
Scientists say initial images from the flyby provide new information
about the comet's volume and material spewing from its surface.

"Early observations of the comet show that, for the first time, we may
be able to connect activity to individual features on the nucleus," said
EPOXI Principal Investigator Michael A'Hearn of the University of
Maryland, College Park. "We certainly have our hands full. The images
are full of great cometary data, and that's what we hoped for."

EPOXI is an extended mission that uses the already in-flight Deep Impact
spacecraft. Its encounter phase with Hartley 2 began at 1 p.m. PDT (4
p.m. EDT) on Nov. 3, when the spacecraft began to point its two imagers
at the comet's nucleus. Imaging of the nucleus began one hour later.

"The spacecraft has provided the most extensive observations of a comet
in history," said Ed Weiler, associate administrator for NASA's Science
Mission Directorate at the agency's headquarters in Washington.
"Scientists and engineers have successfully squeezed world-class science
from a re-purposed spacecraft at a fraction of the cost to taxpayers of
a new science project."

Images from the EPOXI mission reveal comet Hartley 2 to have 100 times
less volume than comet Tempel 1, the first target of Deep Impact. More
revelations about Hartley 2 are expected as analysis continues.

Initial estimates indicate the spacecraft was about 700 kilometers (435
miles) from the comet at the closest-approach point. That's almost the
exact distance that was calculated by engineers in advance of the flyby.

"It is a testament to our team's skill that we nailed the flyby distance
to a comet that likes to move around the sky so much," said Tim Larson,
EPOXI project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena,
Calif. "While it's great to see the images coming down, there is still
work to be done. We have another three weeks of imaging during our
outbound journey."

The name EPOXI is a combination of the names for the two extended
mission components: the Extrasolar Planet Observations and
Characterization (EPOCh), and the flyby of comet Hartley 2, called the
Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI). The spacecraft has retained
the name "Deep Impact." In 2005, Deep Impact successfully released an
impactor into the path of comet Tempel 1.

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, a division of the California Institute
of Technology, manages the EPOXI mission for NASA's Science Mission
Directorate. The spacecraft was built for NASA by Ball Aerospace &
Technologies Corp., in Boulder, Colo.

For more information about EPOXI, visit: http://www.nasa.gov/epoxi and
http://epoxi.umd.edu/.

For information about NASA and agency programs, visit: http://www.nasa.gov.

DC Agle 818-393-9011
Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
agle at jpl.nasa.gov

Trent J. Perrotto 202-358-0321
NASA Headquarters, Washington
Trent.j.perrotto at nasa.gov

Lee Tune 301-405-4679
University of Maryland, College Park
ltune at umd.edu

2010-373
Received on Thu 04 Nov 2010 06:44:44 PM PDT