Donald Savage Headquarters Washington May 8 2003 Phone 202/358-1727 DC Agle Jet Propulsion Laboratory JPL Pasadena Calif Phone 818/393-9011 Lee Tune University of Maryland College Park Md Phone 301/405-4679 RELEASE 03-161 YOUR NAME COULD MAKE A DEEP IMPACT ON A COMET People worldwide may celebrate July 4 2005 as the day their names reach a comet NASA is launching a campaign to send hundreds of thousands of names to comet Tempel 1 The names will be carried on board NASA Deep Impact spacecraft the first deep-space mission designed to really reach out and touch a comet Mission scientists are confident an impact on a comet nucleus will answer basic questions about the nature and composition of these celestial wanderers This is an opportunity to become part of an extraordinary space mission said Dr Don Yeomans an astronomer at JPL a member of Deep Impact science team When the craft is launched in December 2004 yours and the names of your loved-ones can hitch along for the ride and be part of what may be the best space fireworks show in history Deep Impact larger flyby spacecraft will carry a smaller impactor spacecraft to Tempel 1 for release into the comet path for a planned collision The flyby spacecraft will take pictures as the 370-kilogram 816 pound copper-tipped impactor plunges into Tempel 1 at about 37,000 kilometers 22,990 miles per hour The impactor is expected to make a spectacular football field-sized crater seven to 15 stories deep in the speeding comet Carried aboard the impactor will be a standard mini-CD containing the names of comet space and other enthusiasts from around the world This campaign will allow people from around the world to become directly involved with Deep Impact and through that get them thinking about the scientific reasons for the mission said University of Maryland UM astronomy professor Michael AHearn Deep Impact principal investigator We particularly hope to capture the interest of young students as they will become the explorers of the next generation People may submit their names for this historic one-way mission by visiting NASA Deep Impact Web site from May 2003 to February 2004 at http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/ The collision between the impactor and Tempel 1 is not forceful enough to make an appreciable change in the comet orbital path around the sun The comet poses no threat to Earth Deep Impact was selected in 1999 as a NASA Discovery mission The goal of the Discovery Program is to launch many smaller missions with fast development times each for a fraction of the cost of NASA larger missions The main objective is to enhance our understanding of the Solar System by exploring the planets their moons and small bodies such as comets and asteroids The UM is the home of Deep Impact principal investigator Michael AHearn who oversees scientific investigations Project manager John McNamee from JPL manages and operates the Deep Impact mission for NASA Office of Space Science Washington JPL is managed for NASA by the California Institute of Technology Pasadena Calif John Marriott Ball Aerospace & Technology Corp. manages the spacecraft development in Boulder Colo Information about the Deep Impact mission is available on the Internet at http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/ A mirror site is available at http://deepimpact.umd.edu For information about NASA and other space flight missions on the Internet visit http://www.nasa.gov