Asteroids:

• Pioneers: NASA's Galileo mission was the first to fly past an asteroid (Gaspra) in 1991. NEAR Shoemaker later orbited Eros and landed on asteroid Itokawa.

• Modern Missions: OSIRIS-REx collected samples from Bennu, and Hayabusa2 returned with samples from Ryugu. These missions revealed clues about early solar system composition.

Comets

• Deep Impact: This mission famously crashed a projectile into comet Tempel 1, studying the ejecta for insights into cometary composition.

• Rosetta: The first spacecraft to orbit a comet (67P/Churyumov-Gerasimenko), gathering detailed data on its structure and activity during its cycle.

• Lucy: Currently on its way to visit multiple Trojan asteroids, remnants of early solar system formation.

Impact on Our Understanding

• These missions have revealed diverse compositions in these objects, including water ice and organic molecules, suggesting they played a role in delivering the building blocks of life to Earth.

• Studying them helps us understand planet formation and the dynamic nature of our solar system.

Future Missions

• DART's recent impact on Dimorphos tested planetary defense strategies against asteroid threats.

• More missions are planned to comets and asteroids, including Psyche to visit a metal asteroid and VERITAS to study a potentially ice-rich asteroid.

Deep Impact was a NASA space probe launched in 2005 with a groundbreaking mission: to study the composition of a comet from the inside out! Here are some key details about this fascinating spacecraft:

Mission:

• Primary Mission: Deep Impact's main goal was to investigate the interior of comet Tempel 1 (9P/Tempel). It achieved this by deploying a special impactor that collided with the comet's nucleus on July 4, 2005. The impact excavated material from beneath the surface, allowing scientists to analyze its composition.

• Secondary Mission: After successfully completing its primary mission, Deep Impact embarked on an extended mission called EPOXI. This involved flybys of Earth and comet Hartley 2 (103P/Hartley), gathering further data on both comets and extrasolar planets.

Key Features:

• Two-part design: Deep Impact consisted of two components:

  • Flyby spacecraft: Equipped with instruments to capture images and data before, during, and after the impact.

  • Impactor: A 372-kg copper projectile specifically designed to crash into the comet.

• Instruments: The flyby spacecraft carried two primary instruments:

  • High-Resolution Impact Camera (HRIC): Captured close-up images of the impact and ejecta plume.

  • Infrared Spectrometer (MIRSI): Analyzed the chemical composition of the ejecta.

Impact and Success:

• The impact of the projectile created a crater on Tempel 1 and ejected a massive plume of dust and ice, revealing previously unseen material from the comet's interior.

• This mission provided valuable insights into the composition of comets, including the discovery of water ice and organic molecules, potentially hinting at the origins of life on Earth.

• Deep Impact became famous for its dramatic July 4th impact and garnered significant public and scientific interest.

End of Mission:

• Unfortunately, communication with Deep Impact was lost in August 2013 while it was en route to another asteroid flyby.

• Despite its premature end, Deep Impact's contributions to cometary science and space exploration remain significant.