It was to be a target of NASA's EPOXI comet-exploration mission in December 2008; however, the comet was not recovered in time to set up the trajectory for the flyby with sufficient accuracy, and EPOXI switched to its backup target Hartley 2. It is thought that 85D/Boethin may have broken into pieces too small for visual detection.[15][16] As a result, its designation was changed from 85P to 85D on 9 June 2017, signifying that it has been lost and has possibly broken up.[17]