88-511: Autonav can refer to : the NASA autonomous spacecraft navigation software, e.g. as used on Deep Space 1 spacecraft. the autonomous rover navigation/driving software used on the NASA Curiosity Mars rover ( Mars Science Laboratory ) Topics referred to by the same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with
176-417: A 747 . What we've found is that the mosquito didn't splat on the surface; it's actually gone through the windscreen." One day after the impact, Marina Bay, a Russian astrologer , sued NASA for US$ 300 million for the impact which "ruin[ed] the natural balance of forces in the universe." Her lawyer asked the public to volunteer to help in the claim by declaring "The impact changed the magnetic properties of
264-471: A Delta II rocket. Deep Impact 's state of health was uncertain during the first day after launch. Shortly after entering orbit around the Sun and deploying its solar panels, the probe switched itself to safe mode . The cause of the problem was simply an incorrect temperature limit in the fault protection logic for the spacecraft's RCS thruster catalyst beds. The spacecraft's thrusters were used to detumble
352-423: A 10 cm (3.9 in) telescope, which uses a silicon carbide mirror. Both PEPE and MICAS were similar in capabilities to larger instruments or suites of instruments on other spacecraft. They were designed to be smaller and require lower power than those used on previous missions. Prior to launch, Deep Space 1 was intended to visit comet 76P/West–Kohoutek–Ikemura and asteroid 3352 McAuliffe . Because of
440-499: A burn of 11.3 seconds was conducted, to enable the June 27 Earth fly-by to be optimized for the transit to Hartley 2 and fly-by on November 4. The velocity change was 0.1 m/s (0.33 ft/s). On November 4, 2010, the Deep Impact extended mission (EPOXI) returned images from comet Hartley 2. EPOXI came within 700 kilometers (430 mi) of the comet, returning detailed photographs of
528-471: A comet -- Halley's Comet , taken by the Giotto spacecraft. The PEPE instrument reported that the comet's solar wind interaction was offset from the nucleus. This is believed to be due to emission of jets, which were not distributed evenly across the comet's surface. Despite having no debris shields, the spacecraft survived the comet passage intact. Once again, the sparse comet jets did not appear to point towards
616-725: A free concert for hundreds of employees of the Jet Propulsion Laboratory to help them celebrate the mission's success. This event received worldwide press attention. In February 2006, the International Astronomical Union citation that officially named asteroid 79896 Billhaley included a reference to the JPL concert. Deep Impact embarked on an extended mission designated EPOXI (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation) to visit other comets, after being put to sleep in 2005 upon completion of
704-508: A performance history in space meant that despite the potential savings in propellant mass, the technology was considered too experimental to be used for high-cost missions. Furthermore, unforeseen side effects of ion propulsion might in some way interfere with typical scientific experiments, such as fields and particle measurements. Therefore, it was a primary mission of the Deep Space 1 demonstration to show long-duration use of an ion thruster on
792-503: A probe on a small comet or asteroid to push it off course. China said it would begin the mission after sending a probe to the Moon . Since observing time on large, professional telescopes such as Keck or Hubble is always scarce, the Deep ;Impact scientists called upon "advanced amateur, student, and professional astronomers " to use small telescopes to make long-term observations of
880-490: A relative speed of 10.3 km/s (37,000 km/h; 23,000 mph). The Impactor delivered 1.96 × 10 joule s of kinetic energy —the equivalent of 4.7 tons of TNT . Scientists believed that the energy of the high-velocity collision would be sufficient to excavate a crater up to 100 m (330 ft) wide, larger than the bowl of the Roman Colosseum . The size of the crater was still not known one year after
968-640: A robust planner (EUROPA), a plan-execution system (EXEC) and a model-based diagnostic system (Livingstone). EUROPA was used as a ground-based planner for the Mars Exploration Rovers . EUROPA II was used to support the Phoenix Mars lander and the Mars Science Laboratory . Livingstone2 was flown as an experiment aboard Earth Observing-1 and on an F/A-18 Hornet at NASA's Dryden Flight Research Center . Another method for reducing DSN burdens
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#17330853690321056-480: A scientific mission. The NASA Solar Technology Application Readiness (NSTAR) electrostatic ion thruster , developed at NASA Glenn, achieves a specific impulse of 1000–3000 seconds. This is an order of magnitude higher than traditional space propulsion methods, resulting in a mass savings of approximately half. This leads to much cheaper launch vehicles. Although the engine produces just 92 millinewtons (0.33 oz f ) thrust at maximal power (2,100 W on DS1),
1144-555: A target, DS1 senses the particle environment with the PEPE (Plasma Experiment for Planetary Exploration) instrument. This instrument measured the flux of ions and electrons as a function of their energy and direction. The composition of the ions was determined by using a time-of-flight mass spectrometer . The MICAS (Miniature Integrated Camera And Spectrometer ) instrument combined visible light imaging with infrared and ultraviolet spectroscopy to determine chemical composition. All channels share
1232-407: Is estimated to be 150 meters (490 ft) in diameter, and has a bright mound in the center likely created when material from the impact fell back into the crater. The impact was a substantial news event reported and discussed online, in print, and on television. There was a genuine suspense because experts held widely differing opinions over the result of the impact. Various experts debated whether
1320-464: Is sit back and wait. Everything we can technically do to ensure impact has been done." In the final minutes as the Impactor hit the comet, more than 10,000 people watched the collision on a giant movie screen at Hawaii's Waikīkī Beach . Experts came up with a range of soundbites to summarize the mission to the public. Iwan Williams of Queen Mary University of London , said "It was like a mosquito hitting
1408-664: Is the Beacon Monitor experiment. During the long cruise periods of the mission, spacecraft operations are essentially suspended. Instead of data, Deep Space 1 transmitted a carrier signal on a predetermined frequency. Without data decoding, the carrier could be detected by much simpler ground antennas and receivers. If DS1 detected an anomaly, it changed the carrier between four tones, based on urgency. Ground receivers then signal operators to divert DSN resources. This prevented skilled operators and expensive hardware from babysitting an unburdened mission operating nominally. A similar system
1496-575: Is the Flyby spacecraft. So you have to build in the intelligence ahead of time and let it do its thing." On June 23, 2005, the first of the two final trajectory correct maneuvers (targeting maneuver) was successfully executed. A 6 m/s (20 ft/s) velocity change was needed to adjust the flight path towards the comet and target the Impactor at a window in space about 100 kilometers (62 mi) wide. Impact phase began nominally on June 29, 2005, five days before impact. The Impactor successfully separated from
1584-599: Is the backup device, and was used primarily for navigation during the final 10-day approach. It also has a filter wheel, with a slightly different set of filters. The Impactor section of the spacecraft contains an instrument that is optically identical to the MRI, called the Impactor Targeting Sensor (ITS), but without the filter wheel. Its dual purpose was to sense the Impactor's trajectory, which could then be adjusted up to four times between release and impact, and to image
1672-420: The Deep Impact spacecraft traveled 429 million km (267 million mi) in 174 days to reach comet Tempel 1 at a cruising speed of 28.6 km/s (103,000 km/h; 64,000 mph). Once the spacecraft reached the vicinity of the comet on July 3, 2005, it separated into the Impactor and Flyby sections. The Impactor used its thrusters to move into the path of the comet, impacting 24 hours later at
1760-599: The GaAs solar cells that were the state of the art at the time of the mission launch. The SCARLET arrays generated 2.5 kilowatts at 1 AU, with less size and weight than conventional arrays. Although ion engines had been developed at NASA since the late 1950s, with the exception of the SERT missions in the 1960s, the technology had not been demonstrated in flight on United States spacecraft, though hundreds of Hall-effect engines had been used on Soviet and Russian spacecraft. This lack of
1848-416: The "Cratering Mass", was 100% copper, with a weight of 100 kg. Including this cratering mass, copper formed 49% of total mass of the Impactor (with aluminium at 24% of the total mass); this was to minimize interference with scientific measurements. Since copper was not expected to be found on a comet, scientists could ignore copper's signature in any spectrometer readings. Instead of using explosives, it
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#17330853690321936-425: The "peanut" shaped cometary nucleus and several bright jets. The probe's medium-resolution instrument captured the photographs. Deep Impact observed Comet Garradd (C/2009 P1) from February 20 to April 8, 2012, using its Medium Resolution Instrument, through a variety of filters. The comet was 1.75–2.11 AU (262–316 million km) from the Sun and 1.87–1.30 AU (280–194 million km) from
2024-517: The 372-kilogram (820 lb) copper-core "Smart Impactor" that impacted the comet, and the 601 kg (1,325 lb) "Flyby" section, which imaged the comet from a safe distance during the encounter with Tempel 1. The Flyby spacecraft is about 3.3 meters (10.8 ft) long, 1.7 meters (5.6 ft) wide and 2.3 meters (7.5 ft) high. It includes two solar panels, a debris shield, and several science instruments for imaging , infrared spectroscopy , and optical navigation to its destination near
2112-445: The DSN is overburdened by its use as a communications network. The use of Autonav reduces mission cost and DSN demands. The Autonav system can also be used in reverse, tracking the position of bodies relative to the spacecraft. This is used to acquire targets for the scientific instruments. The spacecraft is programmed with the target's coarse location. After initial acquisition, Autonav keeps
2200-457: The Flyby spacecraft on July 3 at 6:00 UTC (6:07 UTC ERT ). The first images from the instrumented Impactor were seen two hours after separation. The Flyby spacecraft performed one of two divert maneuvers to avoid damage. A 14-minute burn was executed which slowed down the spacecraft. It was also reported that the communication link between the Flyby and the Impactor was functioning as expected. The Impactor executed three correction maneuvers in
2288-437: The Impactor would go straight through the comet and out the other side, would create an impact crater, would open up a hole in the interior of the comet, and other theories. However, twenty-four hours before impact, the flight team at JPL began privately expressing a high level of confidence that, barring any unforeseen technical glitches, the spacecraft would intercept Tempel 1. One senior personnel member stated "All we can do now
2376-411: The Impactor's success until five minutes later at 05:57 UTC . Don Yeomans confirmed the results for the press, "We hit it just exactly where we wanted to" and JPL Director Charles Elachi stated "The success exceeded our expectations." In the post-impact briefing on July 4, 2005, at 08:00 UTC, the first processed images revealed existing craters on the comet. NASA scientists stated they could not see
2464-464: The Tempel 1 mission. Its first extended visit was to do a flyby of Comet Boethin , but with some complications. On July 21, 2005, Deep Impact executed a trajectory correction maneuver that allows the spacecraft to use Earth's gravity to begin a new mission in a path towards another comet. The original plan was for a December 5, 2008, flyby of Comet Boethin, coming within 700 kilometers (430 mi) of
2552-557: The ability to plan onboard activities and correctly diagnose and respond to simulated faults in spacecraft components through its built-in REPL environment. Autonomous control will enable future spacecraft to operate at greater distances from Earth and to carry out more sophisticated science-gathering activities in deep space. Components of the Remote Agent software have been used to support other NASA missions. Major components of Remote Agent were
2640-453: The application code consisted of 20,000 lines and 19 different application threads. The total cost of developing the spacecraft and completing its mission reached US$ 330 million . The probe was originally scheduled for launch on December 30, 2004, but NASA officials delayed its launch, in order to allow more time for testing the software. It was successfully launched from Cape Canaveral on January 12, 2005, at 1:47 pm EST (1847 UTC) by
2728-450: The asteroid was not bright enough for the Autonav to focus the camera in the right direction, and the picture shoot was delayed by almost an hour. The resulting pictures were disappointingly indistinct. However, the flyby of Comet Borrelly was a great success and returned extremely detailed images of the comet's surface. Such images were of higher resolution than the only previous pictures of
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2816-415: The cancellation of a flyby past comet 107P/Wilson–Harrington . The Autonav system required occasional manual corrections. Most problems were in identifying objects that were too dim, or were difficult to identify because of brighter objects causing diffraction spikes and reflections in the camera, causing Autonav to misidentify targets. The Remote Agent system was presented with three simulated failures on
2904-441: The closely spaced ion extraction grids to short-circuit. The contamination was eventually cleared, as the material was eroded by electrical arcing, sublimed by outgassing, or simply allowed to drift out. This was achieved by repeatedly restarting the engine in an engine repair mode, arcing across trapped material. It was thought that the ion engine exhaust might interfere with other spacecraft systems, such as radio communications or
2992-399: The comet from close range. As the Impactor neared the comet's surface, this camera took high-resolution pictures of the nucleus (as good as 0.2 meters per pixel [7.9 in/px]) that were transmitted in real-time to the Flyby spacecraft before it and the Impactor were destroyed. The final image taken by the Impactor was snapped only 3.7 seconds before impact. The Impactor's payload, dubbed
3080-652: The comet's surface composition and its telescope for viewing the surface features. However, as the December 2007 Earth gravity assist approached, astronomers were unable to locate Comet Boethin, which may have broken up into pieces too faint to be observed. Consequently, its orbit could not be calculated with sufficient precision to permit a flyby. In November 2007 the JPL team targeted Deep Impact toward Comet Hartley 2 . However, this would require an extra two years of travel for Deep Impact (including earth gravity assists in December 2007 and December 2008). On May 28, 2010,
3168-463: The comet, and this could have affected mobile telephony here on Earth. If your phone went down this morning, ask yourself Why? and then get in touch with us." On August 9, 2005, the Presnensky Court of Moscow ruled against Bay, although she did attempt to appeal the result. One Russian physicist said that the impact had no effect on Earth and "the change to the orbit of the comet after the collision
3256-401: The comet, the latter being six times larger than the former. The spacecraft studied the images of various distant stars to determine its current trajectory and position. Don Yeomans, a mission co-investigator for JPL pointed out that "it takes 7½ minutes for the signal to get back to Earth, so you cannot joystick this thing. You have to rely on the fact that the Impactor is a smart spacecraft as
3344-426: The comet. Michael A'Hearn, the Deep Impact team leader, explained "We propose to direct the spacecraft for a flyby of Comet Boethin to investigate whether the results found at Comet Tempel 1 are unique or are also found on other comets." The $ 40 million mission would provide about half of the information as the collision of Tempel 1 but at a fraction of the cost. Deep Impact would use its spectrometer to study
3432-557: The comet. The spacecraft also carried two cameras, the High Resolution Imager (HRI), and the Medium Resolution Imager (MRI). The HRI is an imaging device that combines a visible-light camera with a filter wheel, and an imaging infrared spectrometer called the "Spectral Imaging Module" or SIM that operates on a spectral band from 1.05 to 4.8 micrometres. It has been optimized for observing the comet's nucleus. The MRI
3520-406: The commissioning phase was completed. This phase continued until about 60 days before the encounter with comet Tempel 1. On April 25, 2005, the probe acquired the first image of its target at a distance of 64 million km (40 million mi). On May 4, 2005, the spacecraft executed its second trajectory correction maneuver. Burning its rocket engine for 95 seconds, the spacecraft speed
3608-663: The concentrator technology and built the solar array for DS1, with Entech Inc, who supplied the Fresnel optics, and the NASA Glenn Research Center . The activity was sponsored by the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization, developed originally for the SSI - Conestoga 1620 payload, METEOR. The concentrating lens technology was combined with dual-junction solar cells, which had considerably better performance than
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3696-459: The craft achieved high speeds because ion engines thrust continuously for long periods. The next spacecraft to use NSTAR engines was Dawn , with three redundant units. Remote Agent (RAX), remote intelligent self-repair software developed at NASA's Ames Research Center and the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, was the first artificial-intelligence control system to control a spacecraft without human supervision. Remote Agent successfully demonstrated
3784-410: The craft was heading for another asteroid flyby. The Deep Impact mission was planned to help answer fundamental questions about comets, which included what makes up the composition of the comet's nucleus, what depth the crater would reach from the impact, and where the comet originated in its formation. By observing the composition of the comet, astronomers hoped to determine how comets form based on
3872-582: The crash area from NASA images. The Deep Impact mission coincided with celebrations in the Los Angeles area marking the 50th anniversary of " Rock Around the Clock " by Bill Haley & His Comets becoming the first rock and roll single to reach No. 1 on the recording sales charts. Within 24 hours of the mission's success, a 2-minute music video produced by Martin Lewis had been created using images of
3960-572: The data captured was stored on board the Flyby spacecraft, which radioed approximately 4,500 images from the HRI, MRI, and ITS cameras to Earth over the next few days. The energy from the collision was similar in size to exploding five tons of dynamite and the comet shone six times brighter than normal. A mission timeline is located at Impact Phase Timeline Archived June 2, 2015, at the Wayback Machine (NASA). Mission control did not become aware of
4048-409: The delayed launch, the targets were changed to asteroid 9969 Braille (at the time called 1992 KD) and comet 19P/Borrelly , with comet 107P/Wilson–Harrington being added following the early success of the mission. It achieved an impaired flyby of Braille and, due to problems with the star tracker, abandoned targeting Wilson–Harrington in order to maintain its flyby of comet 19P/Borrelly , which
4136-686: The differences between the interior and exterior makeup of the comet. Observations of the impact and its aftermath would allow astronomers to attempt to answer these questions. The mission's Principal Investigator was Michael A'Hearn , an astronomer at the University of Maryland . He led the science team, which included members from Cornell University , University of Maryland, University of Arizona , Brown University , Belton Space Exploration Initiatives, JPL , University of Hawaii , SAIC , Ball Aerospace , and Max-Planck-Institut für extraterrestrische Physik . The spacecraft consists of two main sections,
4224-497: The efficiency of American science because public support ensured the possibility of funding long-term research. By contrast, "in China, the public usually has no idea what our scientists are doing, and limited funding for the promotion of science weakens people's enthusiasm for research." Two days after the US mission succeeded in having a probe collide with a comet, China revealed a plan: landing
4312-523: The end of the mission. On-board communications were set to remain in active mode in case the craft should be needed in the future. However, attempts to resume contact in March 2002 were unsuccessful. It remains within the Solar System, in orbit around the Sun. Deep Impact (spacecraft) Deep Impact was a NASA space probe launched from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station on January 12, 2005. It
4400-408: The final two hours before impact. The Impactor was maneuvered to plant itself in front of the comet, so that Tempel 1 would collide with it. Impact occurred at 05:45 UTC (05:52 UTC ERT , +/− up to three minutes, one-way light time = 7m 26s) on the morning of July 4, 2005, within one second of the expected time for impact. The impactor returned images as late as three seconds before impact. Most of
4488-598: The flyby of the asteroid was only a partial success, the encounter with the comet retrieved valuable information. The Deep Space series was continued by the Deep Space 2 probes, which were launched in January 1999 piggybacked on the Mars Polar Lander and were intended to strike the surface of Mars (though contact was lost and the mission failed). Deep Space 1 was the first NASA spacecraft to use ion propulsion rather than
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#17330853690324576-480: The impact contained more dust and less ice than had been expected. The only models of cometary structure astronomers could positively rule out were the very porous ones which had comets as loose aggregates of material. In addition, the material was finer than expected; scientists compared it to talcum powder rather than sand . Other materials found while studying the impact included clays , carbonates , sodium , and crystalline silicates which were found by studying
4664-421: The impact itself combined with computer animation of the Deep Impact probe in flight, interspersed with footage of Bill Haley & His Comets performing in 1955 and the surviving original members of The Comets performing in March 2005. The video was posted to NASA's website for a couple of weeks afterwards. On July 5, 2005, the surviving original members of The Comets (ranging in age from 71–84) performed
4752-513: The impact. The 2007 Stardust spacecraft's NExT mission determined the crater's diameter to be 150 meters (490 ft). Just minutes after the impact, the Flyby probe passed by the nucleus at a close distance of 500 km (310 mi), taking pictures of the crater position, the ejecta plume , and the entire cometary nucleus. The entire event was also photographed by Earth-based telescopes and orbital observatories , including Hubble , Chandra , Spitzer , and XMM-Newton . The impact
4840-482: The media, international scientists, and amateur astronomers alike. Upon the completion of its primary mission, proposals were made to further utilize the spacecraft. Consequently, Deep Impact flew by Earth on December 31, 2007, on its way to an extended mission, designated EPOXI , with a dual purpose to study extrasolar planets and comet Hartley 2 (103P/Hartley). Communication was unexpectedly lost in August 2013 while
4928-519: The mission to continue. During late October and early November 1999, during the spacecraft's post-Braille encounter coast phase, Deep Space 1 observed Mars with its MICAS instrument. Although this was a very distant flyby, the instrument did succeed in taking multiple infrared spectra of the planet. Deep Space 1 succeeded in its primary and secondary objectives, returning valuable science data and images. DS1's ion engines were shut down on 18 December 2001 at approximately 20:00:00 UTC, signaling
5016-400: The new crater that had formed from the Impactor, but it was later discovered to be about 100 meters wide and up to 30 meters (98 ft) deep. Lucy McFadden, one of the co-investigators of the impact, stated "We didn't expect the success of one part of the mission [bright dust cloud] to affect a second part [seeing the resultant crater]. But that is part of the fun of science, to meet with
5104-573: The press conference took live images using the Faulkes Automatic Telescope in Hawaii (the students operated the telescope over the Internet) and were one of the first groups to get images of the impact. One amateur astronomer reported seeing a structureless bright cloud around the comet, and an estimated 2 magnitude increase in brightness after the impact. Another amateur published a map of
5192-536: The remaining mission, including the Comet Borrelly encounter. The flyby of the asteroid 9969 Braille was only a partial success. Deep Space 1 was intended to perform the flyby at 56,000 km/h (35,000 mph) at only 240 m (790 ft) from the asteroid. Due to technical difficulties, including a software crash shortly before approach, the craft instead passed Braille at a distance of 26 km (16 mi). This, plus Braille's lower albedo , meant that
5280-485: The same amount of data can be sent by smaller equipment in space and on the ground. Conversely, existing DSN antennas can split time among more missions. At the time of launch, the DSN had a small number of K a receivers installed on an experimental basis; K a operations and missions are increasing. The SDST was later used on other space missions such as the Mars Science Laboratory (the Mars rover Curiosity ). Once at
5368-548: The same region. Because the quality of the images of the crater formed during the Deep Impact collision was not satisfactory, on July 3, 2007, NASA approved the New Exploration of Tempel 1 (or NExT) mission. The mission utilized the already existing Stardust spacecraft , which had studied Comet Wild 2 in 2004. Stardust was placed into a new orbit so that it passed by Tempel 1 at a distance of approximately 200 km (120 mi) on February 15, 2011, at 04:42 UTC. This
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#17330853690325456-410: The science instruments. The PEPE detectors had a secondary function to monitor such effects from the engine. No interference was found although the flux of ions from the thruster prevented PEPE from observing ions below approximately 20 eV. Another failure was the loss of the star tracker . The star tracker determines spacecraft orientation by comparing the star field to its internal charts. The mission
5544-419: The spacecraft and correctly handled each event. Overall this constituted a successful demonstration of fully autonomous planning, diagnosis, and recovery. The MICAS instrument was a design success, but the ultraviolet channel failed due to an electrical fault. Later in the mission, after the star tracker failure, MICAS assumed this duty as well. This caused continual interruptions in its scientific use during
5632-478: The spacecraft following third stage separation. On January 13, 2005, NASA announced that the probe was out of safe mode and healthy. On February 11, 2005, Deep Impact 's rockets were fired as planned to correct the spacecraft's course. This correction was so precise that the next planned correction maneuver on March 31, 2005, was unnecessary and canceled. The "commissioning phase" verified that all instruments were activated and checked out. During these tests it
5720-451: The spacecraft's scientific team, stated "this is an opportunity to become part of an extraordinary space mission ... when the craft is launched in December 2004, yours and the names of your loved-ones can hitch along for the ride and be part of what may be the best space fireworks show in history." The idea was credited with driving interest in the mission. Chinese researchers used the Deep Impact mission as an opportunity to highlight
5808-443: The spacecraft. Deep Space 1 then entered its second extended mission phase, focused on retesting the spacecraft's hardware technologies. The focus of this mission phase was on the ion engine systems. The spacecraft eventually ran out of hydrazine fuel for its attitude control thrusters. The highly efficient ion thruster had a sufficient amount of propellant left to perform attitude control in addition to main propulsion, thus allowing
5896-489: The spectroscopy of the impact. Clays and carbonates usually require liquid water to form and sodium is rare in space. Observations also revealed that the comet was about 75% empty space, and one astronomer compared the outer layers of the comet to the same makeup of a snow bank. Astronomers have expressed interest in more missions to different comets to determine if they share similar compositions or if there are different materials found deeper within comets that were produced at
5984-472: The star background, which appears fixed over such timescales. Two or more asteroids let the spacecraft triangulate its position; two or more positions in time let the spacecraft determine its trajectory. Existing spacecraft are tracked by their interactions with the transmitters of the NASA Deep Space Network (DSN), in effect an inverse GPS . However, DSN tracking requires many skilled operators, and
6072-483: The subject in frame, even commandeering the spacecraft's attitude control. The next spacecraft to use Autonav was Deep Impact . Primary power for the mission was produced by a new solar array technology, the Solar Concentrator Array with Refractive Linear Element Technology (SCARLET), which uses linear Fresnel lenses made of silicone to concentrate sunlight onto solar cells. ABLE Engineering developed
6160-430: The target comet before and after impact. The purpose of these observations was to look for "volatile outgassing, dust coma development and dust production rates, dust tail development, and jet activity and outbursts." By mid-2007, amateur astronomers had submitted over a thousand CCD images of the comet. One notable amateur observation was by students from schools in Hawaii, working with US and UK scientists, who during
6248-471: The target could be hit. In 1999, a revised and technologically upgraded mission proposal, dubbed Deep Impact , was accepted and funded as part of NASA's Discovery Program of low-cost spacecraft. The two spacecraft (Impactor and Flyby) and the three main instruments were built and integrated by Ball Aerospace & Technologies in Boulder, Colorado . Developing the software for the spacecraft took 18 months and
6336-515: The time of the Solar System's formation. Astronomers hypothesized, based on its interior chemistry, that the comet formed in the Uranus and Neptune Oort cloud region of the Solar System. A comet which forms farther from the Sun is expected to have greater amounts of ices with low freezing temperatures, such as ethane , which was present in Tempel 1. Astronomers believe that other comets with compositions similar to Tempel 1 are likely to have formed in
6424-470: The title Autonav . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Autonav&oldid=1008133810 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Deep Space 1 Deep Space 1 ( DS1 )
6512-477: The traditional chemical-powered rockets. The purpose of Deep Space 1 was technology development and validation for future missions; 12 technologies were tested: The Autonav system, developed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory , takes images of known bright asteroids . The asteroids in the inner Solar System move in relation to other bodies at a noticeable, predictable speed. Thus a spacecraft can determine its relative position by tracking such asteroids across
6600-474: The unexpected." Analysis of data from the Swift X-ray telescope showed that the comet continued outgassing from the impact for 13 days, with a peak five days after impact. A total of 5 million kg (11 million lb) of water and between 10 and 25 million kg (22 and 55 million lb) of dust were lost from the impact. Initial results were surprising as the material excavated by
6688-414: The view of the impact crater. Previous space missions to comets, such as Giotto , Deep Space 1 , and Stardust , were fly-by missions . These missions were able to photograph and examine only the surfaces of cometary nuclei, and even then from considerable distances. The Deep Impact mission was the first to eject material from a comet's surface, and the mission garnered considerable publicity from
6776-624: Was a NASA technology demonstration spacecraft which flew by an asteroid and a comet . It was part of the New Millennium Program , dedicated to testing advanced technologies. Launched on 24 October 1998, the Deep Space 1 spacecraft carried out a flyby of asteroid 9969 Braille , which was its primary science target. The mission was extended twice to include an encounter with comet 19P/Borrelly and further engineering testing. Problems during its initial stages and with its star tracker led to repeated changes in mission configuration. While
6864-543: Was also cheaper to use copper as the payload. Explosives would also have been superfluous. At its closing velocity of 10.2 km/s, the Impactor's kinetic energy was equivalent to 4.8 tonnes of TNT, considerably more than its actual mass of only 372 kg. The mission coincidentally shared its name with the 1998 film, Deep Impact , in which a comet strikes the Earth. Following its launch from Cape Canaveral Air Force Station pad SLC-17B at 18:47 UTC on January 12, 2005,
6952-407: Was also observed by cameras and spectroscopes on board Europe's Rosetta spacecraft , which was about 80 million km (50 million mi) from the comet at the time of impact. Rosetta determined the composition of the gas and dust cloud that was kicked up by the impact. A comet-impact mission was first proposed to NASA in 1996, but at the time, NASA engineers were skeptical that
7040-437: Was changed by 18.2 km/h (11.3 mph). Rick Grammier, the project manager for the mission at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory, reacted to the maneuver stating that "spacecraft performance has been excellent, and this burn was no different... it was a textbook maneuver that placed us right on the money." The approach phase extended from 60 days before encounter (May 5, 2005) until five days before encounter. Sixty days out
7128-494: Was designed to study the interior composition of the comet Tempel 1 (9P/Tempel), by releasing an impactor into the comet. At 05:52 UTC on July 4, 2005, the Impactor successfully collided with the comet's nucleus . The impact excavated debris from the interior of the nucleus, forming an impact crater . Photographs taken by the spacecraft showed the comet to be more dusty and less icy than had been expected. The impact generated an unexpectedly large and bright dust cloud, obscuring
7216-407: Was found that the HRI images were not in focus after it underwent a bake-out period. After mission members investigated the problem, on June 9, 2005, it was announced that by using image processing software and the mathematical technique of deconvolution , the HRI images could be corrected to restore much of the resolution anticipated. The "cruise phase" began on March 25, 2005, immediately after
7304-467: Was only about 10 cm (3.9 in)." The mission was notable for one of its promotional campaigns, "Send Your Name To A Comet!". Visitors to the Jet Propulsion Laboratory 's website were invited to submit their name between May 2003 and January 2004, and the names gathered—some 625,000 in all—were then burnt onto a mini-CD, which was attached to the Impactor. Dr. Don Yeomans, a member of
7392-468: Was saved when the MICAS camera was reprogrammed to substitute for the star tracker. Although MICAS is more sensitive, its field-of-view is an order of magnitude smaller, creating a greater information processing burden. Ironically, the star tracker was an off-the-shelf component, expected to be highly reliable. Without a working star tracker, ion thrusting was temporarily suspended. The loss of thrust time forced
7480-468: Was successful. An August 2002 flyby of asteroid 1999 KK 1 as another extended mission was considered, but ultimately was not advanced due to cost concerns. During the mission, high quality infrared spectra of Mars were also taken. The ion propulsion engine initially failed after 4.5 minutes of operation. However, it was later restored to action and performed excellently. Early in the mission, material ejected during launch vehicle separation caused
7568-469: Was the earliest time that the Deep Impact spacecraft was expected to detect the comet with its MRI camera. In fact, the comet was spotted ahead of schedule, 69 days before impact (see Cruise phase above). This milestone marks the beginning of an intensive period of observations to refine knowledge of the comet's orbit and study the comet's rotation, activity, and dust environment. On June 14 and 22, 2005, Deep Impact observed two outbursts of activity from
7656-457: Was the first time that a comet was visited by two probes on separate occasions ( 1P/Halley had been visited by several probes within a few weeks in 1986), and it provided an opportunity to better observe the crater that was created by Deep Impact as well as observing the changes caused by the comet's latest close approach to the Sun. On February 15, NASA scientists identified the crater formed by Deep Impact in images from Stardust . The crater
7744-517: Was used on the New Horizons Pluto probe to keep costs down during its ten-year cruise from Jupiter to Pluto. The Small Deep Space Transponder (SDST) is a compact and lightweight radio-communications system. Aside from using miniaturized components, the SDST is capable of communicating over the K a band . Because this band is higher in frequency than bands currently in use by deep-space missions,
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