SpaceRef - Exploration and Missions - Robotic Missions - Planetary Science

SpaceRef - Exploration and Missions - Robotic Missions - Planetary Science - Deep Impact

Deep Impact - NASA Flyby of Comet P/Tempel 1 - The objectives of the Deep Impact mission are to rendezvous with comet P/Tempel 1, launch a projectile into the comet nucleus, and observe the resulting ejecta, much of which will represent pristine material from the interior of the comet, and the crater formation process and resulting crater. This project was selected as a Discovery class mission in July, 1999. NASA GSFC's National Space Science Data Center (NSSDC)

Deep Impact Mission at Ball Aerospace - The mission consists of a flyby spacecraft and a smart impactor. The impactor has an active guidance system that steers it to impact on the sunlit side of the comet surface. The impactor also relays close-up images of the comet's surface prior to impact back to the flyby spacecraft for downlink to Earth. Optical and infrared instruments on the flyby spacecraft will image and spectrally map the impact and resulting crater.

Deep Impact Mission at NASA JPL - On July 4, 2005, the Deep Impact mission will impact the surface of comet Tempel 1 thus creating a fresh crater larger than the size of football field and deeper than a seven-story building. The spacecraft will study the crater formation process and examine the subsurface structure of one of the solar system's most primitive objects, a remnant from the outer solar system formation process.

Deep Impact Mission at the University of Maryland - The Deep Impact (DI) mission sends a 500-kg impactor, traveling at 10 km/s, to blast a crater into a comet nucleus to reveal the structure of the interior of a comet. The mission is implemented with a flyby spacecraft and a smart impactor. [University of Maryland]