May 24 2001
From The Space Library
NASA announced the inauguration of a program focused on designing a probe that could collide with a comet traveling at speeds of more than 22,000 miles (35,000 kilometers) per hour. Researchers had created the Deep Impact Mission program in the belief that the collision might enable measurement of the materials comprising the comet. The plan called for a 770-pound (349-kilogram) impactor, featuring cameras and an infrared spectrometer, to collect data from the comet. NASA selected Michael A’Hearn of the University of Maryland as Project Leader, with NASA’s JPL and Ball Aerospace Technology Corporation as the designers of the probe. The effort targeted Comet Tempel 1, discovered in 1867, which orbits Earth every five and one-half years. Following in the wake of several comet-related discoveries, the Deep Impact Mission focused on analyzing the composition of comets and determining how they might have affected the rest of the universe. NASA had designated a budget of US$279 million for the project. (NASA, “NASA Gives Green Light for Deep Impact Mission Development,” news release 01-99, 24 May 2001.)
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