Deep Impact to hit the comet on July 4
Space, NASA, ISRO News June 10th, 2005
Deep Impact to hit the comet on July 4
NASA is planning to do a Hollywood styled stunt by smashing into an asteroid to create a crater to observe the composition of this heavenly body. They call the craft Deep Impact (perhaps inspired from the film’s name on the same theme) and it is scheduled to hit the comet on July 4. Studying the inside surface of an asteroid would help the scientists in finding out about the formation of our solar system.
NASA has even released the impact timing at 05:52 GMT. However, they are not sure if the impact would be bright enough to be visible by normal space fans on the earth. The best location for observing the collisions are said to be western United States and possibly New Zealand.
The Deep Impact spacecraft would be sending a 144-kilogram copper-fortified impactor toward comet Tempel 1 at a distance of around 133 million kilometers from Earth. The impactor would move towards the comet while the craft would be at a safe distance to watch the impact in the space.
The project manager of this mission Rick Grammier is excited about this particular mission as he said in a statement: “It’s a bullet trying to hit a second bullet with a third bullet, in the right place at the right time, watching the first two bullets and gathering the scientific data from that impact.â€
The impact however is unlikely to deflect the comet off its orbit in the space.
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Makes me feel better to know we can afford to waste money on NASA experiments that will contribute nothing to life on earth; meanwhile, millions go without health insurance or money to buy food.
What will happen when it is deflected, and lands on beijing ?
that is some food for thought…
What if it slightly deflects the comet’s orbit and the next time it comes around it could be much closer to earth then you could expect?
Just something to think about…
Remember the saying … ‘it’s not nice to fool Mother Nature’? Well, watch out Earth, this just may be the ‘bullet’ that breaks the ‘camels’ back. In a way, I hope Mother Nature gets really po’d at Earth and ends it all … maybe the next world will be a better place to live in. Briefly: what a waste of money and ‘talent’ .. just a bunch of some new toys for some big [?] boys while millions on Earth are starving to death.
how can you think this is gov’t waste? you have to be pretty stupid to think FINALLY putting money into asteroid defenses is a bad idea.
ever heard of the ice age? or taken a look at the moon? craters hurt champ.
You Americans are so bloody pesimistic. Ths is great science at work, and might save YOU or your kids in future …
Hey, stop being so negative! You pessimists have nothing better to do with your time? Go get a job, and stop looking at porn on the ‘Net.
go kill yourself American
You know if you stopped placing band aids on severed limbs, and just let it go, in 10 years there wouldnâ??t be starving millions.
What if there are aliens living inside the astroid? They will be splattered.
Cruelty to aliens!
They referred to it as “shooting Bullets”. DIDN’T ANYONE LEARN ANYTHING FROM “The Day the Earth stood still” ? What if they shoot back?????
This experiment is absolutely necessary. Think of the volumes of data that can be gathered and theorized for years to come. Who knows what could come from this?
They may even learn to better predict a global catastrophic collision that can not be avoided anyway. Think of how much better the world will feel when we know exactly when we are going to die.
It amazes me how educated and creative a few americans seem to be, while the bulk of americans seem to gather their thoughts from information relevent in the dark ages.
Hey TJ - Go Educate Yourself!
The last thing Americans need are high and mighties in DC telling my kids what books to read.
If you’re going to spit out $$$ amounts, do your homework and add-in all the state and local budgets as well. Watch your “Oh thats too much” Defense budget fall in line.
Sorry Champ, Education is a local issue; Defense is national with some state thrown in for special occasions.
There will always be poverty, there will always be science. There will always be idiots controling the money, at the end of the day NASA’s got lots of money and they are gonna do what they want. In the UK we have National Insurance so hospital treatment is free and i am proud to live here :) I think that monitoring the stars is vital. The chances of us being able to stop a massive rock hitting earth is minimal, but if we can learn something from one that isn’t going to hit then surely thats a good thing.
Better than spending my money on creating the new Empire. Damn evil Sith think that imperial colonies are a good thing for some reason….
What if this probe IS in fact something that is going to save the earth? Perhaps I do not know what I am talking about, but do you think anyone who knows would tell the public what this thing is really doing if it was made to save earth?
Ben, “education is a local issue”.
My argument is that education should be a private issue between parents and their mistakes. Besides if education is a local issue how is it we have a FEDERAL Department of Education with a budget of 56 billion. This is wehre I got my number from http://www.whitehouse.gov/omb/budget/fy2006/education.html . So, you are legitimizing spending countless billions on defense by the fact that state governments spend too much on education? There is really nothing in your argument that makes any sense at all.
Mind you, I will be out there with my 5″ refractor to catch these fireworks, but by no means is the government stealing our money to perform these experiments legitimate.
“What if this probe IS in fact something that is going to save the earth”
This is very presumptuous that there is something worth saving here.
Hey Ben Go screw yourself!
The dollar amounts I “spit” out were from the 2006 budget. I said “$56 billion for the Department of Education” the last time I chekced the Department of Education was federal. I didn’t say education in general Champ. Besides your argument is that because we spend too much on education we should spen too much on defense also. Very weak logic. By the way education is not a local issue. It’s an issue between you and the mistakes you created. If you couldn’t afford to educate them privately they should have been aborted.