NASA’s EPOXI mission is set for an up close and personal look at comet Hartley 2 on Thursday, November 4. Cameras onboard the mission spacecraft will get within 700 kilometers (that’s about 435 miles!) of the comet.
The name EPOXI itself is a combination of the names for the two extended mission components: the extrasolar planet observations, called Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization (EPOCh), and the flyby of comet Hartley 2, called the Deep Impact Extended Investigation (DIXI).
The spacecraft will continue to be referred to as “Deep Impact” – it’s the same spacecraft that tossed out an impactor at comet Tempel 1 back in 2005.
What will EPOXI see at Hartley 2?
Already, scientists are puzzled about recent radar imagery of the object taken from Earth by the Arecibo Planetary Radar in Puerto Rico. That data shows the object to be a cross between a huge bowling pin and a giant pickle.
Mission engineers and scientists are discussing the new findings and what — if anything — they signify for the upcoming comet encounter.
The spacecraft was built for NASA by Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corporation in Boulder, Colorado.
NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif., manages the EPOXI mission for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington, D.C.
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By LD/CSE