Deep Impact - The Comet Hunter Mission

[alexblackwell]

Deep Impact Launch Press Kit (845 Kb PDF)

 

[Swampcat]

<font color="orange"><b>Rocket trouble stalls launch of Deep Impact mission</b><br /><br />A manufacturing error discovered in a part of the Boeing Delta 2 rocket to launch NASA's Deep Impact comet striker will force on-pad repairs, further delaying liftoff that must occur during an unflexible one-month window.<br /><br />The mission was supposed to blast off December 30 from pad 17B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Florida. But concerns with the spacecraft's software postponed the launch to January 8.<br /><br />The latest problem, announced Tuesday, slips the target launch date to January 12 so workers can replace part of the Delta vehicle that will send Deep Impact on its six-month trek to Comet Tempel 1.</font><br /><br />Spaceflight Now article... <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>

 

[CalliArcale]

Hmmm. I'm starting to get a little anxious about Deep Impact. I hope they make their window, but if they do miss it, I hope they can do like Rosetta and find a new target for the spacecraft. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <p> </p><p><font color="#666699"><em>"People assume that time is a strict progression of cause to effect, but actually from a non-linear, non-subjective viewpoint it's more like a big ball of wibbly wobbly . . . timey wimey . . . stuff."</em>  -- The Tenth Doctor, "Blink"</font></p> </div>

 

[Swampcat]

Yeah, the article mentions that they have back-up targets just in case they miss their window for Tempel 1. <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <font size="3" color="#ff9900"><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>------------------------------------------------------------------- </em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong><em>"I hold it that a little rebellion now and then is a good thing, and as necessary in the political world as storms in the physical. Unsuccessful rebellions, indeed, generally establish the encroachments on the rights of the people which have produced them. An observation of this truth should render honest republican governors so mild in their punishment of rebellions as not to discourage them too much. It is a medicine necessary for the sound health of government."</em></strong></font></p><p><font size="1" color="#993300"><strong>Thomas Jefferson</strong></font></p></font> </div>

 

[yurkin]

Its getting there on July 4th 05, just 6 months from when it is launched. I thought it was going to be in a few years or so. This is great!

 

[alexblackwell]

<i>Its getting there on July 4th 05, just 6 months from when it is launched. I thought it was going to be in a few years or so. This is great!</i><br /><br />Actually, the current launch period is the backup from the originally proposed one, which had Deep Impact launching in January 2004. The original plan would have required a longer flight time to Tempel 1, but would have allowed in-flight testing and calibration en route due to the need to perform an Earth flyby maneuver. The instruments could have been calibrated in the well-known and well-characterized Earth-Moon environment; indeed, even the impactor sequence was to have been "simulated" during the lunar flyby.<br /><br />However, the mission ran behind schedule and the backup launch opportunity was adopted, which sends DI on a direct trajectory for the comet.