[meteorite-list] EPOXI Mission Status Report - November 1, 2011

From: Ron Baalke <baalke_at_meteoritecentral.com>
Date: Thu, 3 Nov 2011 11:09:55 -0700 (PDT)
Message-ID: <201111031809.pA3I9tTf010756_at_zagami.jpl.nasa.gov>

http://epoxi.umd.edu/1mission/status.shtml

EPOXI Mission Status Report
Michael A'Hern
November 1, 2011

As we approach the anniversary of the EPOXI flyby of Hartley 2,
it is time to look at what we have learned about comets from this
mission. In the first week of October, a special session of the annual
DPS meeting <http://meetings.copernicus.org/epsc-dps2011/>, jointly held
with the European Planetary Science Congress, highlighted recent mission
results in an all-day session
<http://meetingorganizer.copernicus.org/EPSC-DPS2011/session/8405>. Key
results from EPOXI included:

    * new evidence that the two lobes of Hartley 2 are different in
      composition,
    * separation of the icy grains from the refractory grains
      quantitatively improved statistics on the motion of the large
      chunks in the coma,
    * the correlation of surface ice with topography on the nucleus,
    * an analysis of spectra showing that the thermal inertia of the
      nucleus is very small (highest surface temperature at noon rather
      than in the afternoon).

The results for the abundances of carbon monoxide (CO) and carbon
dioxide (CO_2 ) relative to water mesh nicely with results from the
Akari satellite on these abundances in other comets and the results on
deuterium in Hartley 2 suggest that the origin of comets needs to be
rethought.

Meanwhile, NASA has decided that there will be a senior review of all
operating planetary exploration missions. That will likely include a
review of the status of the Deep Impact Flyby spacecraft to determine
whether an additional extended mission should be approved. Decisions
will not occur until early 2012.
Received on Thu 03 Nov 2011 02:09:55 PM PDT