Overview of Deep Impact spacecraft from this NASA page. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)
NASA comet craft loses contact
LOS ANGELES – A spacecraft that gave scientists their first peek into a comet’s icy interior will explore no more, NASA said Friday.
The space agency declared an end to the Deep Impact spacecraft after it unexpectedly fell silent. Engineers tried for a month to regain contact, but lost hope.
Mission scientist Jessica Sunshine of the University of Maryland said she was “saddened at the loss of an old friend.”
Deep Impact put on a celestial fireworks display July 4, 2005, when it fired a projectile into comet Tempel 1. The high-speed impact carved a crater and hurled a plume of debris into space, giving scientists their first glimpse of the comet’s frozen primordial ingredients.
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http://www.spokesman.com/stories/2013/sep/21/nasa-comet-craft-loses-contact/
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