EPOXI
The extended mission of the Deep Impact spacecraft — it flew within about 700 km of the small, hyperactive comet 103P/Hartley 2 in 2010, revealing a peanut-shaped nucleus jetting carbon-dioxide-driven plumes.
Imagery
EPOXI Mission Press Conference
Jessica Sunshine, EPOXI Deputy Principal Investigator, University of Maryland, far right, discusses imagery sent back from the EPOXI Mission spacecraft during a press conference, Thursday, Nov.
2010
NASA · NASA media (public domain)
This is the small-body-missions view of EPOXI. See its main mission page for the full profile.
Targets & sample
Mission & science
- Goals
- Reuse the Deep Impact spacecraft to fly by a second comet and observe exoplanet transits.
- Engineering milestones
- Close flyby of Hartley 2 (2010) — the fifth comet nucleus imaged up close.
- Science discoveries
- Hartley 2 is a hyperactive comet driven by CO2 sublimating water ice.
- Outcome
- Complete success.
Knowledge connections
- VisitedHartley 2
- Member of groupFlyby Mission
- Operated byNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
- VisitedHartley 2
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.