Looking Back

In hours and days following the Impactor success, Deep Impact researchers will complete their download of the Flyby’s Tempel 1 encounter and look back data. Also on tap is science calibration imaging for the rest of the week, mission managers said.

““But it will all be done in daylight shifts…quite a luxury for the team,” Henderson said.

“Henderson said the Impactor did its job perfectly, hitting right the middle of the highest center of brightness on the comet. Moreover, the Flyby spacecraft passed through the tail of the comet and didn’t incur any damage.

““All subsystems are in the same state as they were before the start of encounter. The optics show no sign of sandblasting, and the look back images are all looking great,” Henderson said.

““We didn’t even lose a single cell on the solar arrays. We certainly expected to have at least some minor damage. We couldn’t be happier.”