A spacecraft built by Ball Aerospace & Technologies of Boulder will do Nov. 4 what no other spacecraft has ever done: have a second close encounter with a comet.
The first time for the Deep Impact spacecraft was in 2005, when it threw an object called an impacter into the path of Comet Tempel 1.
“It was run down by the comet,” and a high-resolution imager built by Ball photographed the resulting debris, said Amy Walsh, Ball’s engineering team leader on the spacecraft.
Now, the spacecraft is on a new mission, EPOXI (Extrasolar Planet Observations and Characterization and Deep Impact Extended Investigation).
While traveling at 7.8 miles per second, the spacecraft will snap images from within 434 miles of Comet Hartley 2 — the distance from Denver to Salina, Kan.
That will be close enough to see the comet’s nucleus, which should give information about comets and the universe’s early days.
Between 300 and 400 Ball employees have worked on the spacecraft for more than six years, and Walsh said she thinks a new assignment lies ahead.
“They keep finding more targets, and the spacecraft keeps operating like it should,” she said. “It’s a great investment for NASA.”
But the “cool thing” about this encounter, Walsh said, is that people can see the comet — or at least a blurry blob — with telescopes.
For where to look, visit www.sky .
Ann Schrader: 303-954-1967 or aschrader@denverpost.com
