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Space Topics: Deep ImpactScience InstrumentsThe Deep Impact mission carries three science instruments, two on the Flyby spacecraft and one on the Impactor. The High Resolution Instrument (HRI), on the Flyby spacecraft, is a 30-centimeter (12-inch) telescope that gathers light for a camera and a spectrometer. The HRI was intended to help Deep Impact steer itself onto a collision course with the comet. As the Flyby spacecraft approached Tempel 1, the HRI was then used to watch the impact take place and study the aftermath. The HRI camera has nine different colored filters on a wheel, allowing it to capture information on the color of the comet in visible and near infrared wavelengths. The spectrometer gathers light in near-infrared wavelengths. The HRI began to resolve the comet as more than a one-pixel speck about a day before the impact. The Medium Resolution Instrument (MRI), on the Flyby spacecraft, is a 12-centimeter (5-inch) telescope with a field of view five times wider than the HRI. The MRI provides context for the HRI images, and aided navigation during the final approach to the comet. The MRI has a filter wheel with nine filters, two of which are the same as those on the HRI. The Impactor Targeting Sensor (ITS), on the Impactor, was identical to the MRI, except that it had no filter wheel. The ITS helped the Impactor steer itself toward the best possible impact site on Tempel 1, and captured images all the way down to the ground. |
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