EVENT OF THE MONTH: JULY 2015

                   TEN YEARS OF DEEP IMPACT

Ten years ago, NASA’s ‘Deep Impact’ mission when a spacecraft interacted with the surface of a comet for the first time. On July 4, 2005, the Deep Impact Flyby spacecraft released a probe that collided spectacularly with comet Tempel 1 at 23,000 mph, while the main craft observed the results.

The explosive impact gave scientists their first-ever view of pristine material from inside a comet’s nucleus, the solid central lump of ice that gives a comet its shape. Much to the surprise of scientists, Tempel 1 had uniform composition of ices, with proportions near the surface being similar to the deep.

University of Maryland has proposed NASA, a mission back to Hartley 2 to investigate curious variations in composition seen during the 2010 flyby. If approved, the CHagall (Comet Hartley Analyzes to Gather Ancient Links to Life) mission would blast off in 2021 and reach Hartley 2 in 2026.

The 10-year anniversary of Deep Impact’s first comet flyby, which saw it crash a probe craft into Tempel 1 and generate worldwide headlines and unprecedented comet science, will be on July 4, 2015. The researchers are available to speak with the media any time. Contacts: mewright@umd.edu

Courtesy: http://www.umd.edu