Deep impact is a NASA Discovery mission scheduled for a 2004 launch and a 2005 encounter comet Tempel 1. The encounter involves two vehicles. The main spacecraft will fly by the nucleus of Tempel 1, while an impactor, released from the main spacecraft about 24 hours prior, will impact the comet nucleus at about 10 kilometers per second. Study of the crater formed and fresh material uncovered will provide an unparalleled opportunity to gain additional understanding of some of the most primitive objects in the solar system.
Please submit items pertaining only to the Deep Impact spacecraft, its mission, or its target, Comet 9P/Tempel 1.
Launched by NASA on October 24, 1998, Deep Space 1 is the first of the New Millennium Program missions, testing a variety of advanced spacecraft technologies.
NASA's Near Earth Asteroid Rendezvous (NEAR) Shoemaker spacecraft was launched in 1996 and conducted the first long-term, close-up study of an asteroid (Asteroid 433 Eros).
NEAR Shoemaker touched down on the surface of Eros on February 12, 2001, and ceased communications on February 28, 2001, marking the end of the very successful mission.