Aster › Space program › 9P/Tempel 1
9P/Tempel 1
Position on the route: 32/181 · level needed 68 · journey (Mk0 engine) 11.2 h
By the numbers
| Nucleus | ≈ 6 km |
|---|---|
| Year | 5.5 years |
| Found | 1867, Tempel |
| Deep Impact | 4 July 2005 |
The story
Tempel 1 is a Jupiter-family comet found by Wilhelm Tempel from Marseille in 1867. NASA’s Deep Impact sent a 370 kg copper impactor into the nucleus on 4 July 2005: on US Independence Day a comet was, for the first time, opened up by experiment.
The impact revealed fine, powdery dust and porous ice beneath the surface. Stardust-NExT revisited the same comet on 14 February 2011 and imaged the impact crater.
Missions
- Deep Impact (NASA, 2005): the impactor
- Stardust-NExT (NASA, 2011): the second visit
Colony note
Icy and porous; a mining outpost for water.
What probes bring back
- On 4 July 2005 Deep Impact fired a 370 kg impactor into the nucleus: the fine dust and ice inside a comet were seen directly for the first time. The nucleus is about 6 km across and porous.
- Stardust-NExT revisited it on 14 February 2011 and imaged the impact crater: the first comet visited by two different spacecraft.