[Previous] | [Session 38] | [Next]

[38.06] Results of the Deep impact Cratering Experiment: Implications for the Comet Stratigraphy

P. H. Schultz (Brown University), Deep Impact Team

The Deep Impact Discovery mission represents the first kinetic probe to designed to explore the interior of a planetary body. Laboratory experiments performed prior to the encounter provided a wide range of possible scenarios depending on the nature of the surface of the comet. Such experiments established diagnostic signatures based on the nature of the initial flash, the style of ejecta, and final crater shape. The DI experiment represents 6 orders of magnitude increase in mass relative to the laboratory. The presentation will review interpretations based on nature of the pre-impact surface, the initial flash (first second), thermal evolution of the ejecta, and the style of cratering as it relates to the depth of trapped volatiles.

[Previous] | [Session 38] | [Next]

Bulletin of the American Astronomical Society, 37 #3
© 2004. The American Astronomical Soceity.