[meteorite-list] EPOXI 'E-Minus' One Month To Comet Hartley 2 Flyby

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Tue, 5 Oct 2010 10:46:22 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201010051746.o95HkMRu014635_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/news/news.cfm?release=2010-321

NASA Mission 'E-Minus' One Month to Comet Flyby
Jet Propulsion Laboratory
October 04, 2010

PASADENA, Calif. - Fans of space exploration are familiar with the term
T-minus, which NASA uses as a countdown to a rocket launch. But what of
those noteworthy mission events where you already have a spacecraft in
space, as with the upcoming flyby of a comet?

"We use 'E-minus' to help with our mission planning," said Tim Larson,
EPOXI mission project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in
Pasadena, Calif. "The 'E' stands for encounter, and that is exactly what
is going to happen one month from today, when our spacecraft has a close
encounter with comet Hartley 2."

The EPOXI mission's Nov. 4 encounter with Hartley 2 will be only the
fifth time in history that a comet has been imaged close-up. At point of
closest approach, the spacecraft will be about 700 kilometers (435
miles) from the comet.

"Hartley 2 better not blink, because we'll be screaming by at 12.3
kilometers per second (7.6 miles per second), said Larson.

One month out, the spacecraft is closing the distance with the comet at
a rate of 976,000 kilometers (607,000 miles) per day. As it gets closer,
the rate of closure will increase to a little over 1,000,000 kilometers
(620,000 miles) per day.

For those interested in what the "T-minus" stands for in a NASA
countdown to a rocket launch - it translates to "Time-minus." For
example, when a rocket is getting ready for liftoff, it will be lifting
off at a specific time. If that time is 45 seconds away, it is said to
be "T-minus 45 seconds and counting."

EPOXI is an extended mission that utilizes the already "in-flight" Deep
Impact spacecraft to explore distinct celestial targets of opportunity.
The name EPOXI itself is a combination of the names for the two extended
mission components: the extrasolar planet observations, called
Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh), and the
flyby of comet Hartley 2, called the Deep Impact Extended Investigation
(DIXI). The spacecraft will continue to be referred to as "Deep Impact."

NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the EPOXI
mission for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Washington. The
University of Maryland, College Park, is home to the mission's principal
investigator, Michael A'Hearn. Drake Deming of NASA's Goddard Space
Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., is the science lead for the mission's
extrasolar planet observations. The spacecraft was built for NASA by
Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp., Boulder, Colo.

For more information about EPOXI visit http://epoxi.umd.edu/ .

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

2010-321
Received on Tue 05 Oct 2010 01:46:22 PM PDT