Deep Impact: mission and targets

Project start

January 12, 2005

Declared end

July 13, 2005

The start the archive declares is the start of the project, not the launch, and an end it does not declare does not mean the mission is still running.

None of the targets this mission declares is in Galaxy’s catalogue.

A declared target is what the archive files the mission’s data under, not a record of observation.

The Deep Impact mission consisted of an impactor and a fly-by spacecraft that rendezvoused with comet 9P/Tempel 1. The impactor was released to impact the comet surface on July 4 2005, while the flyby spacecraft observed.

Quoted in English, as the archive publishes it, read on October 4, 2026.

• 9P/Tempel 1 (comet)

1 calibration targets declared by the archive are not listed: they are what an instrument looks at to adjust itself, not a place the mission aimed at.

Identifier in the archive, which is its citation: urn:nasa:pds:context:investigation:mission.deep_impact

NASA Planetary Data System, PDS Registry, investigation context products. Dates and targets read on September 29, 2026; how to cite the archive: https://pds.nasa.gov/datastandards/citing/

All missions