1 / 17

First Look Inside a Comet…

First Look Inside a Comet…. Comets have inspired dread, fear, and awe in many different cultures & societies around the world and throughout time.

matthewnorman
Download Presentation

First Look Inside a Comet…

An Image/Link below is provided (as is) to download presentation Download Policy: Content on the Website is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use and may not be sold / licensed / shared on other websites without getting consent from its author. Content is provided to you AS IS for your information and personal use only. Download presentation by click this link. While downloading, if for some reason you are not able to download a presentation, the publisher may have deleted the file from their server. During download, if you can't get a presentation, the file might be deleted by the publisher.

E N D

Presentation Transcript

  1. First Look Inside a Comet…

  2. Comets have inspired dread, fear, and awe in many different cultures & societies around the world and throughout time. Comets' movements have always seemed very erratic and unpredictable. This led people in many ancient cultures to believe that the gods dictated their motions and were sending them as a message. Barrier Canyon style pictograph may depict shaman shaking a snake to ward off danger from approaching comets….Emery County, UT

  3. Comets are time capsules that hold clues about the formation and evolution of the solar system. They are composed of ice, gas and dust, primitive debris from the solar system’s distant and coldest regions that formed 4.5 billion years ago.

  4. The Mission Deep Impact, a NASA Discovery Mission (lower-cost, highly focused scientific spacecraft), is the first space mission to probe beneath the surface of a comet and reveal the secrets of it’s interior.

  5. Mission Goal “To study the pristine interior of a comet by excavating a crater more than 25 m deep and 100 m in diameter. “ Project Partners Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation and University of Maryland

  6. The Deep Impact Mission lasts 6 yrs. from planning through launch to completion. The launch date, formerly scheduled for December 2004, occurred Jan. 12, 2005.

  7. On July 4, 2005 the Deep Impact spacecraft is scheduled to arrive at Comet Tempel 1 to first collect images and then impact the comet with a 370 kg. (~820 lbs.) mass. Orbital plan for Deep Impact Mission

  8. Comet Wild 2 from NASA Stardust spacecraft Discovered in 1861, Comet Tempel 1 has made many passages through the inner solar system orbiting the Sun every 5.5 yrs. This makes it a good target to study evolutionary change in the mantle, or upper crust.

  9. The green grid represents the plane of the earth's orbit and all of the other planets & objects in the solar system have orbits that are slightly inclined to that plane.Tempel 1's orbit does not cross the Earth's. Comet 9P/Tempel 1

  10. Tempel 1 Impactor flyby The impactor is a battery-powered “smart” spacecraft that operates independently of the flyby spacecraft for just one day. After it’s release, it takes over its own navigation and maneuvers into the path of the comet. A camera captures and relays images of the nucleus of the comet seconds before collision.

  11. The impactor of the Deep Impact spacecraft, suspended by an overhead crane, undergoes inspection at Ball Aerospace in Boulder, CO. Fischer Assembly Building…

  12. After releasing the impactor, the flyby spacecraft maneuvers to a new path that, at closest approach, passes 500 km. (300 mi.) from the comet. The flyby observes & records the impact, the ejected material blasted from the crater and the structure and composition of its interior. flyby

  13. The Deep Impact flyby spacecraft (upper L) shown as it records photos and data after the impactor crashes onto the surface of Comet Tempel 1, delivering 19 Gigajoules (that’s equivalent to 4.8 tons of TNT) of kinetic energy to excavate the crater on July 4, 2005. Credit: NASA - Artist’s drawing…

  14. The High Resolution Instrument (HRI), designed and built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp. (Boulder, CO) is the main scientific instrument on the flyby spacecraft. The HRI CCD camera will image the comet impact site with less than 2 m (6 ft) per pixel scale when the flyby spacecraft is 700 km (420 mi.) away.

  15. NASA's Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra space telescopes, and others on Earth, will also observe the collision. Chandra X-Ray Telescrope… W. M. Keck Observatory, Hawaii…

  16. The Deep Impact spacecraft lifted off from Kennedy Space Center, FL on January 12, 2005 and is heading in space for it’s rendezvous 83 million miles from Earth with Comet Tempel 1.

  17. Plan to be at the museum to view the Deep Impact collision with Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005! Watch for details to follow as the date approaches…

More Related