Earth will give a push Sunday to a spacecraft built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies of Boulder as it chases a comet.
NASA’s Deep Impact/EPOXI spacecraft will “hitch a ride” on Earth’s gravity, picking up velocity so it can catch up with Comet Hartley 2 for a Nov. 4 flyby examination.
Sunday’s approach about 18,900 miles above the south Atlantic Ocean will provide a 3,470-mph boost.
Deep Impact, launched in 2005, has had a rendezvous with a comet before. A camera-equipped “impactor” released by the spacecraft slammed in Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005. The encounter gave scientists new information about comets, including composition and the presence of ice. The Deep Impact spacecraft then went on to a planet-hunting phase, which ended in 2008.
In addition to the spacecraft and impactor, Ball built three high-resolution cameras that are onboard.
Ann Schrader, The Denver Post
