Observe the Deep Impact Spacecraft Close In On Comet Tempel 1

http://neo/orbits/deepimpact.html

Observe the Deep Impact Spacecraft Close In On Comet Tempel 1
Don Yeomans and Ron Baalke
NASA's Near Earth Object Program Office
February 3, 2005

An interactive 3D orbital plotter has been developed to
show the trajectories of the Deep Impact spacecraft as it
approaches and runs closely past comet Tempel 1. The red
orbital path of the Deep Impact spacecraft shows for dates
beyond the launch on January 12, 2005 with the pink
portion of the trajectory being above the Earth's orbital
plane and the dark red portion being below this plane.
To minimize the energy (i.e., fuel) needed to launch the
spacecraft, the comet encounter takes place very near the
point where the comet passes through the plane of the
Earth's orbit (ecliptic plane); by launching from Earth,
the spacecraft is already in the ecliptic plane so that
no fuel need be used to push the spacecraft out of this plane.

By running the orbital plotter forward in time, you will
note that the comet overtakes the spacecraft on July 4, 2005
with a relative velocity of 10.2 kilometers per second
(23,000 mph) and it is at this time that the impactor
spacecraft will collide with the comet. After observing
the impact itself, the flyby spacecraft will continue in
its obit about the sun, pass within 0.033 AU (about
4.9 million km or 3 million miles) of Mars on January 6, 2007,
and return to the Earth's neighborhood in late January 2008 -
some 3 years and two full orbits about the sun after launch.
If the spacecraft is healthy and if NASA is able to grant
the necessary permission and resources, the spacecraft
could then be re-targeted for another cometary flyby by
using the Earth encounter to re-shape the spacecraft's
trajectory.

wrote:
http://neo/orbits/deepimpact.html


Can we get a proper link? That one's bad.

--
Mark C. Farrington
http://stellar.heroeshideaway.com

"Mark C. Farrington" wrote in news:nHBMd.8875$3W3.5626
@bignews4.bellsouth.net:

wrote:
http://neo/orbits/deepimpact.html


Can we get a proper link? That one's bad.


http://neo.jpl.nasa.gov/orbits/deepimpact.html

Deep Impact
Observe the Deep Impact Spacecraft Close In On Comet Tempel 1
Note: Make sure you have Java enabled on your browser to see the applet. This
applet is provided as a 3D orbit visualization tool. The applet was
implemented using only 2-body methods, and hence should not be used for
determining accurate long-term trajectories (over several years or decades)
or planetary encounter circumstances.

What happens if we tick this thing off and it decides
to come after us ?

wrote in message
ups.com...
http://neo/orbits/deepimpact.html

Observe the Deep Impact Spacecraft Close In On Comet Tempel 1
Don Yeomans and Ron Baalke
NASA's Near Earth Object Program Office
February 3, 2005

An interactive 3D orbital plotter has been developed to
show the trajectories of the Deep Impact spacecraft as it
approaches and runs closely past comet Tempel 1. The red
orbital path of the Deep Impact spacecraft shows for dates
beyond the launch on January 12, 2005 with the pink
portion of the trajectory being above the Earth's orbital
plane and the dark red portion being below this plane.
To minimize the energy (i.e., fuel) needed to launch the
spacecraft, the comet encounter takes place very near the
point where the comet passes through the plane of the
Earth's orbit (ecliptic plane); by launching from Earth,
the spacecraft is already in the ecliptic plane so that
no fuel need be used to push the spacecraft out of this plane.

By running the orbital plotter forward in time, you will
note that the comet overtakes the spacecraft on July 4, 2005
with a relative velocity of 10.2 kilometers per second
(23,000 mph) and it is at this time that the impactor
spacecraft will collide with the comet. After observing
the impact itself, the flyby spacecraft will continue in
its obit about the sun, pass within 0.033 AU (about
4.9 million km or 3 million miles) of Mars on January 6, 2007,
and return to the Earth's neighborhood in late January 2008 -
some 3 years and two full orbits about the sun after launch.
If the spacecraft is healthy and if NASA is able to grant
the necessary permission and resources, the spacecraft
could then be re-targeted for another cometary flyby by
using the Earth encounter to re-shape the spacecraft's
trajectory.

On Fri, 04 Feb 2005 14:43:25 GMT, "newsgroups"
wrote:

What happens if we tick this thing off and it decides
to come after us ?

It will get very frustrated, since its orbit doesn't intersect that of
the Earth.

Doug