The Deep Impact Comet Mission

Carey Lisse

Deep Impact is a new NASA Discovery class mission, which will fly to comet 9P/Tempel 1 in July 2005 and study for the first time the interior structure and composition of a cometary body by delivering a 1/3 ton hypervelocity impactor to comet 9P/Tempel 1 at a relative velocity of 10 km/sec. Using the spacecraft's 3 CCD cameras and near-IR spectrometer, observations of the cratering event will provide diagnostic information about the physical properties of the outer tens of meters of the nucleus, while post-impact observations of ejected and outgassed material after the crater is completely formed will provide information on compositional differences between the interior and the surface layers. I will discuss the current state of the Deep Impact mission, the possible experimental outcomes, the expected scientific returns, and the role the astronomical community can play in the mission.