Next Mission for Deep Impact?

antoniseb · #1 (**permalink**) 20-July-2005, 04:13 PM

Here's a CNN story about what could be the next comet fly-by mission for Deep impact:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/07/20/c...r.ap/index.html

Essentially, they are going to put Deep Impact on an Earth encounter orbit so that in 2008 it can get a gravitational assist from the Earth to go to the next comet. No impact this time, just a fly-by.

aeolus · #2 (**permalink**) 20-July-2005, 04:43 PM

Did they think of this after seeing how well DI weathered the storm, or was this always an idea they had just incase?

suntrack2 · #3 (**permalink**) 31-July-2005, 02:20 PM

An'ceb are there any barriers of getting information more quickly or it will get only when any such comet come into the earth contact? or we can receive the information from where ever the comet will move? since the deep impacter is there? or a daily movements of the comet can be watch? or the seen from that comet can also be seen on the earth's stationed monitors?

ToSeek · #4 (**permalink**) 31-October-2006, 05:05 PM

A New Target for Deep Impact

Quote:

NASA announced today that it will be extending Deep Impact’s mission, giving it a chance to visit another comet. The mission made big news when it slammed an impactor spacecraft into Comet Tempel 1 in July, 2005. NASA had hoped they could steer the spacecraft past another comet, to continue its scientific discoveries. Mission planners chose Comet Boethin as the spacecraft’s next target, which it should be able to reach in December, 2008.

ToSeek · #5 (**permalink**) 09-April-2007, 08:39 PM

Deep Impact Extended Mission Could Probe Deeper Into Solar System Origin

Quote:

The team put together a proposal to use the spacecraft's telescope to observe the atmospheres of alien worlds, and to visit another comet. The proposed extended mission is called EPOXI (Extrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation), and it has received $500,000 from NASA for an initial study to determine the requirements and costs in greater detail. If approved, as Deep Impact passes by Earth on December 31, 2007, it will use our planet's gravity to direct itself to comet Boethin. While it cruises toward the comet, the first part of the extended mission -- the investigation of alien worlds --would begin in January, 2008.

novaderrik · #6 (**permalink**) 09-April-2007, 09:45 PM

does NASA have an in-house acronym department?
and what is their acronym?

Swift · #7 (**permalink**) 09-April-2007, 09:53 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by novaderrik

does NASA have an in-house acronym department?
and what is their acronym?

Office of Acronym Formation (OAF)?

Saluki · #8 (**permalink**) 09-April-2007, 09:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by novaderrik

does NASA have an in-house acronym department?
and what is their acronym?

Not sure how NASA works, but usually, these things get dreamt up by the team working on the project. It makes the day go by more quickly if you are working on a project with a somewhat amusing acronym.

ToSeek · #9 (**permalink**) 09-April-2007, 09:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Swift

Office of Acronym Formation (OAF)?

Over 5,000 TLAs generated last fiscal year!

Doodler · #10 (**permalink**) 09-April-2007, 10:29 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ToSeek

Over 5,000 TLAs generated last fiscal year!

Seems the OAFs have a HORDE (Highly Organized Rapid Designation Emitter).

novaderrik · #11 (**permalink**) 10-April-2007, 08:05 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saluki

Not sure how NASA works, but usually, these things get dreamt up by the team working on the project. It makes the day go by more quickly if you are working on a project with a somewhat amusing acronym.

and how much of the mission budget is there for the process of naming it? and making logos? all that stuff is needed for the mission letterhead..

01101001 · #12 (**permalink**) 07-July-2007, 12:25 AM

NASA Press Release: NASA Gives Two Successful Spacecraft New Assignments

Quote:

Two NASA spacecraft now have new assignments after successfully completing their missions. The duo will make new observations of comets and characterize extrasolar planets. Stardust and Deep Impact will use their flight-proven hardware to perform new, previously unplanned, investigations.

"These mission extensions are as exciting as it gets. They will allow us to revisit a comet for the first time, add another to the list of comets explored and make a search for small planets around stars with known large planets. And by using existing spacecraft in flight, we can accomplish all of this for only about 15 percent of the cost of starting a new mission from scratch," said Alan Stern, associate administrator for NASA's Science Mission Directorate, Headquarters, Washington. "These new mission assignments for veteran spacecraft represent not only creative thinking and planning, but are also a prime example of getting more from the budget we have."

Deep Impact

Quote:

DIXI will involve a flyby of comet Boethin, which has never been explored. Boethin is a small, short period comet, or one that returns frequently to the inner solar system, from beyond Jupiter's orbit.
[...]
The EPOCh investigation also will use the Deep Impact spacecraft to observe several nearby bright stars, watching as the giant planets already known to be orbiting the stars pass in front of and then behind them. The collected data will be used to characterize the giant planets and to determine whether they possess rings, moons, or Earth-sized planetary companions.

Stardust

Quote:

[New Exploration of Tempel 1 (NExT)] will reuse NASA's Stardust spacecraft to revisit comet Tempel 1. This investigation will provide the first look at the changes to a comet nucleus produced after its close approach to the sun. It will mark the first time a comet has ever been revisited. NExT also will extend the mapping of Tempel 1, making it the most mapped comet nucleus to date.

antoniseb · #13 (**permalink**) 07-July-2007, 12:59 PM

Let me just add that the Comet Boethin encounter will happen on 5 Dec 2008, and the Tempel 1 encounter will be on 14 Feb 2011.

ngc3314 · #14 (**permalink**) 07-July-2007, 08:35 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Saluki

Not sure how NASA works, but usually, these things get dreamt up by the team working on the project. It makes the day go by more quickly if you are working on a project with a somewhat amusing acronym.

It is also widely believed, with some evidence in its favor, that having a memorable acronym makes a project look better by implying that its team has been thinking about longer and more widely than a project known only by its description. Small-scale examples show up in programs done by the Freat Observatories: GOODS, GRAPES, GLIMPSE... (Never did me any good, but colleagues say...). I'm impressed enough that we're seeing NASA programs that aren't just named by acronyms - Swift is a word and proud of it. Quite a contrast to HST, CXO, SIRTF, CGRO, IRAS, ISO, IUE, FUSE, HUT, SWAS, OAO, OSO, TRACE, AMPTE, and so on (although points go to Hubble, Compton, Chandra, Spitzer for having real names too - and in a launch order that lets them serve as the ground for a bit of filk to the tune from "Peter Gunn")... For some reason, the Soviet/Russian programs held on to names that were more memorable, although it gets harder to keep them straight when you find out how many times some like "Buran" have been recycled.

publiusr · #15 (**permalink**) 21-July-2007, 07:58 PM

Ares and Falcon are worse examples. Kosmos is worst of all--they called all kinds of things Cosmos-something or other.

Larry Jacks · #16 (**permalink**) 21-July-2007, 11:30 PM

The Russians have used "Cosmos" as a cover designation for their military satellites for decades, just like the US using US-XX.

Ilya · #17 (**permalink**) 22-July-2007, 03:34 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ngc3314

I'm impressed enough that we're seeing NASA programs that aren't just named by acronyms - Swift is a word and proud of it.

Sometimes (lately quite often) the name is made up first, then some tortured phrase is "acronymed" into it. Don't tell me anyone looked at "MErcury Surface, Space ENvironment, GEochemistry, and Ranging mission" and said "Hey, first letters spell out MESSENGER!"

Doodler · #18 (**permalink**) 23-July-2007, 11:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by ngc3314

It is also widely believed, with some evidence in its favor, that having a memorable acronym makes a project look better by implying that its team has been thinking about longer and more widely than a project known only by its description. Small-scale examples show up in programs done by the Freat Observatories: GOODS, GRAPES, GLIMPSE... (Never did me any good, but colleagues say...). I'm impressed enough that we're seeing NASA programs that aren't just named by acronyms - Swift is a word and proud of it. Quite a contrast to HST, CXO, SIRTF, CGRO, IRAS, ISO, IUE, FUSE, HUT, SWAS, OAO, OSO, TRACE, AMPTE, and so on (although points go to Hubble, Compton, Chandra, Spitzer for having real names too - and in a launch order that lets them serve as the ground for a bit of filk to the tune from "Peter Gunn")... For some reason, the Soviet/Russian programs held on to names that were more memorable, although it gets harder to keep them straight when you find out how many times some like "Buran" have been recycled.

TWITs seem to be the new vogue (Two Words In Tandem), Cassini-Huygens, Ares/Orion.

Kullat Nunu · #19 (**permalink**) 24-July-2007, 09:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Doodler

TWITs seem to be the new vogue (Two Words In Tandem), Cassini-Huygens, Ares/Orion.

Well, Cassini-Huygens is actually two different probes by two different space agencies and NASA has used launch vehicle/spacecraft combinations since the early Mercury flights (Mercury-Redstone 3 etc.).