WIKIARCHIVES.SPACE

At Astrotech Space Operations in Titusville, Fla., a Ball Aerospace technician helps guide the flight battery toward the flyby spacecraft on Deep Impact where it will be installed. About the size of a Ford Explorer, the flyby spacecraft is three-axis stabilized and uses a fixed solar array and a small NiH2 battery for its power system. A NASA Discovery mission, Deep Impact will probe beneath the surface of Comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, when the comet is 83 million miles from Earth. During the encounter phase when the comet collides with the impactor projectile propelled into its path, the spacecrafts high-gain antenna will transmit near-real-time images of the impact back to Earth. The spacecraft is scheduled to launch Jan. 8 aboard a Boeing Delta II rocket from Launch Complex 17-B at Cape Canaveral Air Force Station, Fla.