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Deep Impact / EPOXI

NASA's Deep Impact Discovery mission sent an impactor into comet Tempel 1 while its flyby spacecraft observed the excavated material. The surviving spacecraft was reused as EPOXI for exoplanet observations and a successful flyby of comet Hartley 2.

Deep Impact / EPOXI
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Identity

Aliases
Deep ImpactEPOXIExtrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation
Name
Deep Impact / EPOXI
Status
completed

Details

Astronauts
-
Description
NASA's Deep Impact Discovery mission sent an impactor into comet Tempel 1 while its flyby spacecraft observed the excavated material. The surviving spacecraft was reused as EPOXI for exoplanet observations and a successful flyby of comet Hartley 2.
Destination
Heliocentric trajectory to comets Tempel 1 and Hartley 2, including the impactor strike on Tempel 1, the flyby of Hartley 2, and EPOXI exoplanet observations
End Date
2013-09-20
Launch Site
Outcome
Success. Deep Impact intentionally struck comet Tempel 1 and revealed subsurface ice, dust, and organic material while the flyby spacecraft returned thousands of images. Reused as EPOXI, the spacecraft conducted extensive exoplanet observations and successfully flew by comet Hartley 2 before communications were lost in August 2013 and recovery efforts ended on September 20.
Programs
Start Date
2005-01-12
Vehicle Families

Links

Assets & Meta

Creation Time
July 17, 2026 at 00:01:46 UTC
Updated Time
August 22, 2026 at 15:09:04 UTC

Other

Affiliations
Search Name
Deep Impact / EPOXI Deep Impact EPOXI Extrasolar Planet Observation and Deep Impact Extended Investigation
Space Stations
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Vehicles
Deep Impact / EPOXI - AeroVia