The Deep Impact spacecraft lifted off aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station. Florida. at 1:47 pm Eastern Time on January 12. 2005.
Deep Impact's mission: study the pristine interior of a comet. named Tempel 1.
This would be done by impacting the comet. excavating a crater more than 25 meters deep and 100 meters wide.
On July 3. 2005. a larger 'flyby' spacecraft released a smaller 'impactor' spacecraft into the path of the comet.
Deep Impact's collision with Tempel 1 was a spectacular success.
By analyzing data and images taken prior to impact. Deep Impact scientists have detected water ice on the surface of the comet.
It's the first time ice has been detected on the nucleus. or solid body. of a comet.
Also found were an abundance of organic matter in Tempel 1's interior.
as well as its likely origins. the region of the solar system now occupied by Uranus and Neptune.
Deep Impact is a NASA Discovery Mission. eighth in a series of low-cost. highly focused space science investigations.
Although the original Deep Impact mission is done. the spacecraft is still in working order.
NASA gave it two new tasks under the mission name of EPOXI.
First. the spacecraft observed planets around other stars.
But the primary task was to fly past comet Hartley 2.
That flyby successfully occurred on November 4th. 2010.
During the encounter. the spacecraft and comet streaked past each other at a speed of 27.560 miles per hour.