History was created on 14th February when the first ever close-up flyby of its kind was made. This history was made the STARDUST-NExt probe that flew within 112 miles(181 kilometers) of the comet Temple 1 at 11:39 p.m. EST or 4:39 GMT(15th February 2011). It snapped photos and made measurements all at the same time.
Comet Temple 1
This comet is not a stranger to the robotic visitors from the earth. This comet was visited six years before by another spacecraft known as DEEP IMPACT that smashed an 800-pound(364 kilogram) impactor into Temple 1 to study the comet’s composition.
The 3.7 mile(6 km) wide Temple 1 has an orbital period of 5 and half years, so it had made one trip around around the sun before DEEP IMPACT’s visit. But as during the impact there were clouds of ashes and dust, this made DEEP IMPACT probe unable to get photos and make research a little tough therefore the STARDUST NExt probe was sent in order to study the crash site and get higher resolution images.
COMET TEMPLE 1 as photographed by STARDUST NExT probe
STARDUST NExt probe
The STARDUST NExT probe is not new to the world for it has travelled before as the STARDUST spacecraft which was launched in February 1999 on a mission to collect dust and gas from comet Wild 2 and send the sample back to earth. It completed that mission when its return canister landed in Utah desert in 2006. Since the spacecraft was still in good condition and status and had a little bit of fuel left, NASA assigned it to a new mission in 2007 – to rendezvous with comet Temple 1.
An artist's concept of the STARDUST NExT probe
The probe was rechristened as STARDUST NExT (New Exploration of Tempel). The NASA officials said this was a bonus mission since it took the advantage of an asset already in space. The launch and operation of the Stardust through its mission till the end was held at a cost of $300 million. But Stardust NExT’s total cost was $29 million. This encounter was the last for the probe since it burnt up all the remaining fuel in this mission. With this Stardust or Stardust NExT traversed through 3.5 billion miles or 5.7 billion km in space.
STARDUST NExT approached the comet travelling in space at a speed of 24,300 mph(39,100 kph) and flew within 181 kilometers of the comet and took 122 photos out of which 72 were high resolution from the close encounter. Researchers also saw the crater that Deep Impact created about six years ago. The huge plum of debris erupted by the impact obscured the feature during that mission, preventing Impact from getting a good look. The crater is 150 meters(492 feet) across and there has been a comparative change in the shape of the crater in the six years.
This mission helped scientists get a better look at comets and understand comets better and also gave them hope to conduct such missions in near future.
COURTESY: NASA
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