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DEEP NEWS
Newsletter for the Deep Impact mission
Issue #23, June 2005
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Encounter is less than one month away and as the spacecraft and Comet Tempel 1
approach each other, the project team makes last minute preparations for an
evening of celestial fireworks as we make, for the first time ever, a deep
crater in a comet to see what is beneath the surface. If you want to know more
about the Deep Impact mission, take a look at:
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov
http://deepimpact.umd.edu
PICTURE THIS! - IMAGE FROM THE SPACECRAFT
One of the latest images from the spacecraft shows that it is drawing closer
and closer to Comet Tempel 1.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/T1_doy150.html
On June 9, 2005, Principal Investigator Dr. Mike A'Hearn, Project Manager Rick
Grammier and science team member Don Yeomans represented the Deep Impact
mission at NASA Headquarters for a briefing to the press.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/press/050609jpl.html
AND PICTURE THIS? - IMAGE FROM AN AMATEUR ASTRONOMER
While the spacecraft sends images of its approach to Comet Tempel 1, pictures
also come to us from amateur astronomers peering through their telescopes on
Earth.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/amateur_050601.html
MORE IMAGES FROM SPACE AND EARTH
To see other new images from the spacecraft and ground observation, take a look
at the Deep Impact Image Gallery.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/images.html
MISSION UPDATE - FROM THE ENGINEERING AND SCIENCE TEAMS
This month, Keyur Patel, Deputy Project Manager gives an update on what the
engineering team is doing to prepare for encounter while Lucy McFadden gives us
an update on the science team's meeting last week to discuss encounter.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/update-200506.html
UP CLOSE AND PERSONAL - MEET LETICIA MONTANEZ
Leticia loves aerospace work because it blends her three favorite pastimes -
art, science and math. When she's not at work, she is often somewhere else in
the world competing on the Women's Ice Hockey Travel Team. In both cases, she
is working on something icy! Meet Leticia Montanez.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/bio-lmontanez.html
REHEARSING FOR 800 SECONDS OF IMPACT - WHAT IS AN ORT?
ORT - it stands for Operation Readiness Test, a dress rehearsal for the night
of encounter. The team has had two and is heading toward its third.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/disczone/ort.html
WHO ELSE IS WATCHING DEEP IMPACT?
Since November of 2004, advanced amateur astronomers participating in the Small
Telescope Science Program have been imaging comet 9P/Tempel 1. Their images and
resulting photometry are complementing data acquired by large telescopes. Since
April, participants have been providing nearly daily images of the comet.
http://deepimpact.umd.edu/stsp/search_action.cfm
WE CAN TAKE IT - AND WE CAN DISH IT OUT!
A mission team can put a spacecraft into space and likewise, a spacecraft can
gather data for months. But if there is no way to get the signals back and
forth between the two, all is lost! That's what makes the antennas (sometimes
called "dishes") of the Deep Space Network so important to space
exploration. Learn more about the DSN and the antennas that will give overlapping
coverage on the night of encounter.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/tech/dsn.html
CREATING A CRATER - WHAT A BLAST!
In order to make decisions on Earth about how to make a crater in Tempel 1, the
project team models impacts in different kinds of materials whose structure
might be consistent with that of the comet. Pete Schultz, a member of the Deep
Impact science team shares his latest impact models with us.
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/multimedia/experiment.html
PRESSING NEWS - THE ENCOUNTER PRESS KIT
Whether or not you are a member of the press, you might find our new Encounter
Press Kit interesting.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/press/presskit.html
A COMET AMONG OTHER COMETS
How does the orbit period of Comet 9P/Tempel 1 compare with those of other
famous comets? Take a look and see.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/gallery/comet_orbits.html
THE GREAT COMET CRATER CONTEST
Be one of the over 3,600 contestants who have entered their guess on the dimensions
of the crater the impactor will make in Tempel 1. Join the Great Comet Crater
Contest.
http://www.planetary.org/deepimpact/
DEEP IMPACT FACTS IN FRENCH
Vous parlez francais? Allez jeter un coup d'oeil a notre fiche resumee en
francais de Deep Impact. In other words, read about the Deep Impact mission in
the French language.
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/factsheet-francais.html
DID YOU SEE OUR PAST DEEP NEWS ISSUES?
Visit http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/newsletter/archive.html
to catch up on exciting past news from the Deep Impact mission.
Deep Impact is a Discovery mission. For more information on the Discovery
Program, visit:
http://discovery.nasa.gov/
The Deep Impact mission is a partnership among the University of Maryland
(UMD), the California Institute of Technology's Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL)
and Ball Aerospace and Technology Corp (BATC). Deep Impact is a NASA Discovery
mission, eighth in a series of low-cost, highly focused space science
investigations. See http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov
or our mirror site at http://deepimpact.umd.edu
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