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Space Systems Engineering Conference

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Author: Kubitschek, Daniel G. ×

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Deep Impact Comet Encounter: Design, Development and Operation of the Big Event at Tempel 1

2005-11-10 , Rocca, Jennifer , Wissler, Steven , Kubitschek, Daniel G.

Deep Impact Comet Encounter was a mission to crash the Impactor spacecraft and its Impactor Targeting Sensor (ITS) into Comet Tempel 1 and record the event via a Flyby spacecraft. The Deep Impact spacecrafts, Flyby and Impactor, were launched together aboard a Delta II rocket from Kennedy Space Flight Center on January 12, 2005. Impactor ended its almost six-month mission by successfully transmitting back images of the comet as it plowed into the surface of Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005. Flyby successfully transmitted back the first image of the Impactor’s collision with Tempel 1 via its High Resolution Imager (HRI), the largest telescope ever to be deployed into deep space

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Impactor Spacecraft Encounter Sequence Design for the Deep Impact Mission

2005-11-10 , Kubitschek, Daniel G.

On July 4, 2005, another first in space exploration was achieved. NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft (s/c) released a small, 350 kg Impactor s/c designed to target comet Tempel 1, estimated to be 14 km x 5 km x 5 km in size at the time of release. With a closing speed of approximately 10.3 km/s, the Impactor s/c autonomously guided itself to impact and captured 40 cm resolution images, the highest resolution images ever of the surface of a cometary nucleus, just moments before the collision. The objective of the Impactor s/c was to impact in an illuminated area viewable from the Flyby s/c. This paper describes the Impactor encounter sequence design, execution and contingency planning that contributed to the successful outcome in which all objectives were met.

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