|
Crater Name |
Location |
Age (million yrs) |
Size (km) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Vredefort |
South Africa |
2023 ± 4 |
300 |
|
|
Sudbury |
Ontario, Canada |
1850 ± 3 |
250 |
|
|
Chicxulub |
Yucatan, Mexico |
64.98 ± 0.05 |
170 |
|
|
Manicouagan |
Quebec, Canada |
214 ± 1 |
100 |
|
|
Popigai |
Russia |
35 ± 5 |
100 |
|
|
Crater Name |
Location |
Age (million yr) |
Size (km) |
|
|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Acraman |
South Australia |
>450 |
90 |
|
|
Chesapeake Bay |
Virginia, U.S.A. |
35.5 ± 0.6 |
85 |
|
|
Puchezh-Katunki |
Russia |
175 ± 3 |
80 |
|
|
Morokweng |
South Africa |
145.0 ± 0.8 |
70 |
|
|
Kara |
Russia |
73 ± 3 |
65 |
|
|
Beaverhead |
Montana, U.S.A. |
~600 |
60 |
|
|
Tookoonooka |
Australia |
128 ± 5 |
55 |
|
|
Charlevoix |
Quebec, Canada |
357 ± 15 |
54 |
|
|
Kara-Kul |
Tajikistan |
<53 |
52 |
|
|
Siljan |
Sweden |
68.0 ±1.1 |
52 |
|
MEDIA RELATIONS OFFICE
JPL, CALTECH & NASA
PASADENA, CALIFORNIA 91109
http://www.jpl.nasa.gov
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 7, 1999
JPL'S NEW DEEP IMPACT COMET MISSION OK'D BY NASA
A radical mission to excavate the interior of a comet has been selected as one of the next two flights in NASA's Discovery Program, the agency announced today.
The comet mission, called Deep Impact, will be managed by Jet Propulsion Laboratory, led by Dr. Michael A'Hearn from the University of Maryland in College Park, and built by Ball Aerospace in Boulder, Colo. The mission will send a 500-kilogram (1,100-pound) copper projectile into comet P/Tempel 1, creating a crater as big as a football field and as deep as a seven-story building. A camera and infrared spectrometer on the spacecraft, along with ground-based observatories, will study the resulting icy debris blasted off the comet, as well as the pristine interior material exposed by the impact.
"Comets are leftovers from the birth of the Sun and the planets, and Deep Impact will punch through the dark crust of P/Tempel 1 to give us our first look at what's inside," said JPL director Dr. Edward Stone.
Deep Impact will be launched in January 2004 toward an explosive July 4, 2005 encounter with P/Tempel 1. Those impacts will occur at an approximate speed of 10 kilometers per second (22,300 mph). The total cost of Deep Impact to NASA is $240 million.