| Title: | Impactor Spacecraft Encounter Sequence Design for the Deep Impact Mission |
| Author: | Kubitschek, Daniel G. |
| Abstract: | On July 4, 2005, another first in space exploration was achieved. NASA’s Deep Impact spacecraft (s/c) released a small, 350 kg Impactor s/c designed to target comet Tempel 1, estimated to be 14 km x 5 km x 5 km in size at the time of release. With a closing speed of approximately 10.3 km/s, the Impactor s/c autonomously guided itself to impact and captured 40 cm resolution images, the highest resolution images ever of the surface of a cometary nucleus, just moments before the collision. The objective of the Impactor s/c was to impact in an illuminated area viewable from the Flyby s/c. This paper describes the Impactor encounter sequence design, execution and contingency planning that contributed to the successful outcome in which all objectives were met. |
| Description: | This conference features the work of authors from: Georgia Tech’s Space Systems Design Lab, Aerospace Systems Design Lab, School of Aerospace Engineering, Georgia Tech Research Institute; NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Marshall Space Flight Center, Goddard Space Flight Center, Langley Research Center; and other aerospace industry and academic institutions |
| Type: | Presentation |
| URI: | http://hdl.handle.net/1853/8031 |
| Date: | 2005-11-10 |
| Contributor: |
Jet Propulsion Laboratory (U.S.)
Georgia Institute of Technology. Space Systems Design Lab |
| Relation: | SSEC05 Session C;GT-SSEC.C.3 |
| Publisher: | Georgia Institute of Technology |
| Subject: |
Cometary impacts
Cometary properties Contingency planning Deep Impact Comet Encounter Flyby spacecraft High rate imaging Impactor spacecraft Sequence design |
| Files | Size | Format | View |
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| SSEC_SC3_ppt.pdf | 586.5Kb |
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| SSEC_SC3_doc.pdf | 553.3Kb |
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