Michael A'Hearn

Comets are more different than we thought they were.

We looked inside a comet for the first time.

This study confirms that the water for life on Earth could have come from comets.

We can therefore firmly conclude that most of the water vapor that escapes from comets is contained in ice particles found below the surface.

These new findings are significant because they show that our technique is effective in finding ice when it is on the surface and that we can therefore firmly conclude that most of the water vapor that escapes from comets is contained in ice particles found below the surface.

This will be the biggest contribution we will make. Many hydrocarbons are in higher abundance than one would expect, and there are many others we haven't identified yet.

What we have discovered is where the water is. Most of it is below the surface. That is the big discovery of this project.

These proposed missions are very cost effective ways to provide new results that can be directly compared to the landmark Deep Impact findings as well as with the results of Deep Space 1 and Stardust.

Prior to our Deep Impact experiment, scientists had a lot of questions and untested ideas about the structure and composition of the nucleus, or solid body of a comet, but we had almost no real knowledge, ... Our analysis of data produced by Deep Impact is revealing a great deal, much of it rather surprising.

Our analysis of data produced by Deep Impact is revealing a great deal, much of it rather surprising.