Deep Impact
A NASA Discovery mission that released a 370 kg impactor into the path of comet 9P/Tempel 1 in 2005, excavating material from below the surface while the flyby spacecraft observed the impact — the first look inside a comet.
Imagery
The Making of Deep Impact
This image shows NASA Deep Impact spacecraft being built at Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation, Boulder, Colo.
2006
NASA/JPL/Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation · NASA media (public domain)
This is the small-body-missions view of Deep Impact. See its main mission page for the full profile.
Targets & sample
Mission & science
- Goals
- Excavate and observe pristine material from beneath a comet's surface.
- Engineering milestones
- First artificial impact on a comet (4 July 2005); continued as EPOXI to comet Hartley 2.
- Science discoveries
- Tempel 1's surface is fine, weakly-bound dust; the ejecta revealed water ice and organics.
- Outcome
- Complete success; extended as EPOXI.
Knowledge connections
- VisitedTempel 1
- Member of groupFlyby Mission
- Member of groupImpactor Mission
- Launched byDelta II
- Operated byNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- VisitedTempel 1
- ImpactedTempel 1
- Associated withDeep Impact Strikes Comet Tempel 1
Sources
The primary and reference sources this topic draws on.
- NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.
- NASA JPLJet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics
Orbital data, ephemerides, and small-body parameters for planets, asteroids, and comets.