3D Model of Deep Impact

Instructions: Click and drag anywhere in the image to view the spacecraft at different angles.

This 360-degree view of the flyby spacecraft (with the impactor) was produced by Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp. Turn the spacecraft so that the large flat solar panels are to the back. In this position the following parts of the spacecraft are visible:

1. The long, gold tube is the telescope of the high-resolution instrument (HRI) that will provide the highest level of detail of the comet.
   
   
2. The shorter, rectangular, gold instrument above the HRI is the medium-resolution instrument that will collect data across a wider field of view than the high-resolution instrument.
   
   
3. The large round dish-like instrument at the very top, is the high gain antenna that will provide communications between the flyby spacecraft and the DSN antennas on Earth.
   
   
4. Below the high gain antenna, you can see two small star tracker telescopes. They take images of stars in space and then match the star patterns to an internal catalog. This information is used for navigation.
   
   
5. The impactor is located lower left and is large and copper colored with white at the bottom. If you drag the spacecraft so that the impactor faces you, you will see its camera on the front as a dark rectangle.
   
   
6. Above the impactor, is the rectangular shaped antenna (s-band) with embedded gold squares that will communicate between the impactor and the flyby spacecraft.
   
   
7. The large flat blue panels are solar panels, which gather energy from the Sun to use as power for the spacecraft. Originally these panels were one piece. As a larger panel was needed, it had to be hinged to fit inside the launch vehicle that will carry the spacecraft to space.
   
   

CREDIT: Ball Aerospace & Technologies Corp.