Small-body mission · NASA / JPL

EPOXI

The extended mission of the Deep Impact spacecraft — it flew within about 700 km of the small, hyperactive comet 103P/Hartley 2 in 2010, revealing a peanut-shaped nucleus jetting carbon-dioxide-driven plumes.

Extended missionFlyby Mission

This is the small-body-missions view of EPOXI. See its main mission page for the full profile.

Targets & sample

Target bodies:Hartley 2

Mission & science

Goals: Reuse the Deep Impact spacecraft to fly by a second comet and observe exoplanet transits.
Engineering milestones: Close flyby of Hartley 2 (2010) — the fifth comet nucleus imaged up close.
Science discoveries: Hartley 2 is a hyperactive comet driven by CO2 sublimating water ice.
Outcome: Complete success.

Knowledge connections

VisitedHartley 2
Member of groupFlyby Mission
Operated byNASA Jet Propulsion Laboratory
VisitedHartley 2

Sources

Facts on this topic will be cited from these primary and reference sources.

NASANational Aeronautics and Space Administration
Mission data, planetary science, space telescopes, and public-domain imagery.
Most NASA-produced imagery is in the public domain; individual items are checked for usage terms before publication.
NASA JPLJet Propulsion Laboratory / Solar System Dynamics
Orbital data, ephemerides, and small-body parameters for planets, asteroids, and comets.

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