Deep Impact Crashing mission - Comet Tempel 1 target

SpaceNut · 2004-10-13 13:27:54

It would seem that more missions that were in the building phases are coming to a close. Which means more funds are needed by Nasa to meet these past due probes launch dates.

Engineers here at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation are readying NASA's Deep Impact mission for shipping this month to Cape Canaveral, Florida.

http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tm....rlaunch

Palomar · 2004-10-19 05:16:02

*Good grief...took a while to find this thread. I knew SpaceNut had started one.

http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/imag … .html]Deep Impact arrives in Florida

Nice pic. Wish there were a couple more.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2004-10-20 10:52:32

I found out from reading another article about lockheed failures that ball has this contract as well as the imager contract for new horizon.

NASA is encouraging smaller companies to bid for NASA contracts. For example, Ball Aerospace in Boulder was selected to build NASA's $300 million Deep Impact mission, scheduled for launch in December.

http://www.denverpost.com/Stories/0,141 … 86,00.html

Palomar · 2004-10-20 11:06:49

*This is going to be so phenomenal.

"It will launch a projectile into comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, carving a crater that can then be analyzed to help scientists understand comet composition.

When the 820-pound 'impactor' hits the surface of the comet at approximately 23,000 miles per hour, the 3-by-3 foot projectile will create a crater several hundred feet in size. Using binoculars and telescopes, professional and amateur astronomers on Earth will also be able to observe the material flying from the comet's newly formed crater."

*Can't wait for the video clips. :up: IMO there can't be a better interest than astronomy and space exploration...it's Christmas every day, practically. And I'm like the kid who wants more, more, MORE!!

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2004-10-22 08:18:19

Real rough start in describing the probe but a few details none the less.

The one-ton copper and steel embodiment of five years of work and hundreds of millions of dollars arrived Sunday at the Kennedy Space Center safe and sound.

Professor preps project for launch
Spacecraft will launch Dec. 30 in Florida
http://www.inform.umd.edu/News....s7.html

SpaceNut · 2004-11-12 12:08:01

Probe is now in Nasa's hands under going final preparations for Dec 30 Launch

Nasa Deep Impact

Rxke · 2004-11-12 12:23:14

are they going to use the same landing-procedure used by Project Stardust?

Gallows humor at its worst.... Couldn't resist...

Hope they pull this off, great mission.

SpaceNut · 2004-11-23 11:31:53

Deep Impact's launcher begins to take shape

Palomar · 2004-11-24 13:55:33

http://www.spaceflightnow.com/delta/d31 … tml]Launch *delayed* until 8 Jan 2005

*I'll bet SpaceNut is posting this in tandem with me.

Hopefully no more delays.

--Cindy

P.S.: Nice pics in the link SpaceNut provided in his post above mine. Delta 2 is a bit bigger than I'd thought, judging by the people standing around (and that's just the 1st stage). And like that Clean Room shot too.

ERRORIST · 2004-12-06 23:33:26

How do they know it won't shatter the comet and send pieces our way??? Or is that what they want it to do??

GraemeSkinner · 2004-12-06 23:40:19

It would be a bad idea sending lumps our way. But it should be fairly simple to calculate the effect of a 3'x3' 820 lb impactor hitting the comet, remember its designed to make a crater on the comet, its not an explosive charge.

Graeme

ERRORIST · 2004-12-07 01:03:02

What if it hit a gas pocket and created a greater explosion than predicted?

SpaceNut · 2004-12-09 12:58:35

Launch status page

GraemeSkinner · 2004-12-15 12:43:27

http://spaceflightnow.com/delta/d311/04 … .html]More delays

SpaceNut · 2004-12-15 13:28:26

Saw that this morning, it is real disappointing that Boeing can not launch anything on time lately. Hopefully it will not miss the window for launch and if it does they need to look for a new target.

Palomar · 2004-12-15 13:51:18

Saw that this morning, it is real disappointing that Boeing can not launch anything on time lately. Hopefully it will not miss the window for launch and if it does they need to look for a new target.

*Yep. I didn't want to be the bearer of bad tidings, so I didn't post early about it this a.m. -- defer to someone else!

Damn, I sure hope they DON'T miss out on this opportunity entirely (and then having to resort to the "new target" you refer to -- "possibly Comet Schwassmann-Wachmann 3"). :-\ But we've seen "narrow squeaks" before and things turned out alright.

Unflexible 1-month window.

Must launch within 16 days of the current scheduled launch (Jan 12)...and goodness knows there could be weather troubles, etc.

Will definitely keep my fingers crossed.

--Cindy

SpaceNut · 2004-12-15 14:06:55

All the more reason to have alternative launch site all over the world not just in Florida.

GraemeSkinner · 2004-12-16 01:02:13

Saw that this morning, it is real disappointing that Boeing can not launch anything on time lately. Hopefully it will not miss the window for launch and if it does they need to look for a new target.
*Yep. I didn't want to be the bearer of bad tidings, so I didn't post early about it this a.m. -- defer to someone else!

Ok, leave it to me to be the one with the bad news posts :angry:

All the more reason to have alternative launch site all over the world not just in Florida.

I agree that we should have alternative launch sites worldwide, the only problem with launches such as this Deep Impact mission is that you don't really want to be sending the probe around the world chasing suitable launch windows. As it stands I think they'll sort it out and squeeze inside the January window, or it'll be off to another comet.

Graeme

SpaceNut · 2005-01-06 06:55:01

Nasa DEEP IMPACT SPACECRAFT LAUNCHING ABOARD DELTA II JAN. 12 update

July 4, 2005, the Deep Impact spacecraft will arrive at Comet Tempel 1.

Deep Impact is comprised of two parts, a "fly-by" spacecraft and a smaller "impactor" to be released into the comet's path for a planned collision. The effects of the collision with the comet will be observed by the fly-by spacecraft, the Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra great observatories, and by telescopes on Earth.

I wonder what the fly-by will accomplish?

GraemeSkinner · 2005-01-06 07:10:12

The "fly-by" craft is being used to relay data back to Earth, and probably to get as many close up images from different angles of the impact as possible - its a bit of an unknown after all! We're gonna have a busy couple of days in January launch of Deep Impact and then two days later Huygens dropping in to say hello on Titan.

Graeme

SpaceNut · 2005-01-06 08:28:04

To read the past, NASA smacks a comet

It's a concept even kids can relate to: If you want to see what's inside a rock, whack it with a hammer.
The impactor is expected to hit the surface of the comet - a potato-shaped object estimated at 2.5 miles across and 7 miles long - with the energy of 4.5 tons of TNT.
The event - whose effect on the comet's course researchers liken to a mosquito hitting a 747 in mid-flight - will be widely watched.
Astronomers also will train the Hubble Space Telescope and its infrared counterpart, the Spitzer Space Telescope, on the comet during the impact. Large ground-based observatories also will record the spectacle. In addition, a legion of amateur astronomers has been enlisted to supply digital images of Tempel 1 before, during, and after impact. They can spend longer stretches of the calendar monitoring the comet than can big telescopes, where observing time is a precious commodity.

SpaceNut · 2005-01-12 05:35:23

NASA's Comet Smashing Mission Ready to Fly

If all goes well with today's launch the mission’s six-month spaceflight will send its 820-pound or 372-kilogram Deep Impactor slamming into the sunlit side of Tempel 1 at about 23,000 miles an hour (37,014 kilometers an hour). The resulting explosion would be equivalent to detonating 4.5 tons of dynamite as reported in multiple articles.

Live coverage of launch is for this afternoon EST 1/12/05.

Answer to errotist questions of exploding methane:

"A lot of people asked us why we didn't just pack the spacecraft with a whole lot of explosives," said Jay Melosh, a co-investigator in the mission from the University of Arizona. "But Impactor will hit the comet at 10 kilometers a second. That's 10 times faster than a fast rifle bullet and about 10 times larger than the equivalent mass of TNT."

The eighth of NASA's Discovery class missions, the $330-million Deep Impact spacecraft were built by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. While the mission has a single, instantaneous liftoff time set for tomorrow, its actual launch window stretches through Jan. 28, with two launch opportunities daily beginning Jan. 13.
If Deep Impact launches anytime before Jan. 28, it will reach Tempel 1 on July 4 of this year, mission managers said.

SpaceNut · 2005-01-12 07:44:30

EXPLORATIONS - Space Digest

A run down of current missions and there status

GraemeSkinner · 2005-01-13 00:20:08

Launch was spot on by the looks of it, now all we've got to do is sit back and wait until July. The mission was covered fairly well in some of the better UK newspapers, one mentioned the impact may be visible from Earth.

Graeme

SpaceNut · 2005-01-13 06:32:45

NASA not worried by craft shutdown

A comet-chasing NASA spacecraft went into a protective standby mode after launch Wednesday. The Fault protection software detected higher-than-expected temperatures in the spacecraft's propulsion system.
NASA spacecraft are outfitted with fault protection software that detects systems problems. The software automatically puts spacecraft in a so-called "safe mode" when trouble crops up. In safe mode, all but essential systems are turned off until the spacecraft receives new commands from ground controllers.
The likely fix in this case: Adjusting allowable temperature limits within the propulsion system.
A 300-degree Fahrenheit limit was programmed into the spacecraft prior to launch. The fault-detection software triggered when sensors detected temperatures of 326 degrees. The propulsion system can withstand much higher temperatures.

Thank goodness for reprogramable computers for if this had been the old style analog hard wired sensor this could have spelled disaster for the mission.

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#1 2004-10-13 13:27:54

Re: Deep Impact Crashing mission - Comet Tempel 1 target

#2 2004-10-19 05:16:02

Re: Deep Impact Crashing mission - Comet Tempel 1 target

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