The Deep Impact mission passed its May 23 Confirmation Review at NASA Headquarters and has been given approval to proceed to the implementation phase. After successful completion of both the Preliminary Design Review and an independent Confirmation Assessment, the first mission to impact a comet will now complete the design of its two-part spacecraft.

The Deep Impact mission will send a probe to collide with a comet in an attempt to peer beneath its surface. Scheduled for launch in January 2004, the unique spacecraft is expected to arrive at comet Tempel 1 in July 2005. Researchers hope the impact will allow them to measure freshly exposed material and study samples hidden deep below the surface of the comet, which could yield dramatic scientific breakthroughs.

Artist's Rendering of the Comet, Impactor, and Flyby Spacecraft

The 770 pound impactor, equipped with a camera, will separate from the flyby spacecraft and slam into the comet at an approximate speed of 22,300 miles per hour, blasting material from the comet into space with the force of its impact. A camera and infrared spectrometer on the flyby spacecraft, along with ground-based observatories, will study the resulting icy debris and exposed pristine interior material.

Scientists are eager to learn whether comets exhaust their supply of gas and ice to space or seal it into their interiors. They would also like to learn how a comet's interior is different from its surface. The controlled cratering experiment of this mission could provide those answers.

The principal investigator, Dr. Michael A'Hearn, University of Maryland, College Park, is leading a team consisting of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, CA, and Ball Aerospace Technology Corp., Boulder, CO, which will build the spacecraft.

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