The surviving portion of the Deep Impact space probe that watched its „impactor’s“ collision with comet Tempel 1 on July 4, 2005, is being sent on a mission to study another comet. NASA announced Tuesday that it has accepted a proposal by the University of Maryland, which developed and manages Deep Impact, to send the vehicle on an extended mission to intercept Comet Boethin. The new mission will not involve a collision. Instead, Deep Impact will pass Boethin in December 2008 so its instruments can examine the comet. The spacecraft remains healthy and researchers are hoping to gather information from Boethin that will help to understand further of how comets formed and evolved and if they played a role in the emergence of life on Earth.

Deep Impact Legacy Site