Remember Deep Impact? This was a mission to deliberately put a piece of spacecraft smack dab in from of comet Tempel 1 in 2005. Where upon it was studied and recorded. Deep Impact was in such great shape that it was re-purposed and re-missioned with the name Stardust NExT. The spacecraft was tasked to return once again to Tempel 1 and document the man made crater that was created on the previous visit. The spacecraft made its closest approach to comet Tempel 1 on Monday, Feb. 14 2011 at a distance of approximately 111 miles. Stardust took 72 high-resolution images of the comet. The photos showed the crater with a central cone, which was a bit unexpected.
One of the real pay days for this series of missions is the low cost. Instead of sending out several robotic craft, by re-purposing Deep Impact saved NASA some serious money!
Check out the Science Digest article here
One of the real pay days for this series of missions is the low cost. Instead of sending out several robotic craft, by re-purposing Deep Impact saved NASA some serious money!
Check out the Science Digest article here
No comments:
Post a Comment