New Exploration of Tempel 1 Mission: mission and targets
Data as of 2026-10-23
Dates declared by the archive
- Project start
- February 12, 2004
- Declared end
- March 25, 2011
The start the archive declares is the start of the project, not the launch, and an end it does not declare does not mean the mission is still running.
In Galaxy
Targets you can open in 3D:
A declared target is what the archive files the mission’s data under, not a record of observation.
Description published by the archive
The NExT mission was the extended mission, approved in 2007, for the Stardust spacecraft after it successfully returned samples of comet dust to Earth. The Stardust spacecraft was redirected to intercept Comet 9P/Tempel 1, target of the Deep Impact mission in in 2005, to image the impact area. Small changes were noted.
Quoted in English, as the archive publishes it, read on October 23, 2026.
Other targets declared
2 calibration targets declared by the archive are not listed: they are what an instrument looks at to adjust itself, not a place the mission aimed at.
Source
Identifier in the archive, which is its citation: urn:nasa:pds:context:investigation:mission.next
NASA Planetary Data System, PDS Registry, investigation context products. Dates and targets read on October 23, 2026; how to cite the archive: https://pds.nasa.gov/datastandards/citing/