KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., technicians open the solar panel covers on the Deep Impact spacecraft. Deep Impact is undergoing verification testing after its long road trip from Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. A NASA Discovery mission, Deep Impact will probe beneath the surface of Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is 83 million miles from Earth, and reveal the secrets of its interior. After releasing a 3- by 3-foot projectile to crash onto the surface, Deep Impact’s flyby spacecraft will collect pictures and
KENNEDY SPACE CENTER, FLA. - At Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., technicians open the solar panel covers on the Deep Impact spacecraft. Deep Impact is undergoing verification testing after its long road trip from Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. in Boulder, Colo. A NASA Discovery mission, Deep Impact will probe beneath the surface of Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is 83 million miles from Earth, and reveal the secrets of its interior. After releasing a 3- by 3-foot projectile to crash onto the surface, Deep Impact’s flyby spacecraft will collect pictures and data of how the crater forms, measuring the crater’s depth and diameter, as well as the composition of the interior of the crater and any material thrown out, and determining the changes in natural outgassing produced by the impact. It will send the data back to Earth through the antennas of the Deep Space Network. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch Dec. 30, 2004, aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Launch Complex 17 at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.
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