Nasa rocket to be launched on a collision course with comet

[lovuian]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/science_technology/story.jsp?story=597380

Nasa rocket to be launched on a collision course with comet
By David Usborne in New York
03 January 2005


Nasa scientists are preparing for what they hope will be a carefully controlled and entirely spectacular crash in outer space. If all goes according to plan, the resulting pyrotechnics of the 23,000mph collision involving a comet and a spaceship should occur on 4 July, Independence Day in America.

Officials at the space agency confirmed this weekend that they expect to launch a rocket from Cape Canaveral in Florida later this month with its navigation system set to intercept a comet called Tempel 1 as it travels just beyond the orbit of Mars at a distance from Earth of about 80 million miles.

The rocket will carry a special module that will be released just in time to make a direct hit on the surface of the comet. The module is called Deep Impact, a name familiar to fans of the 1998 Hollywood blockbuster about a comet that strikes the surface of Earth.

Researchers are gambling that by deliberately smashing the module into Tempel 1, they will open a crater perhaps as large as the Coliseum in Rome to reveal what lies within. The explosion, equivalent to igniting 4.5 tonnes of TNT in space, will send a shower of material into space that will be analysed.

more..

WTF!!! :nuke:

[LearnedHand]

1. Can that knock the comet out of its path?

(...and into a collision path with earth?) :scared:

[GainesT1958]

5. Well, let's just hope...

That Deep Impact module doesn't end up creating fragments from the comet that, in turn, end up hitting Earth!:eyes:

B-)

[Gman]

10. It could potentially create a manmade meteor shower

that would be especially spectacular when and if the earth ever passes through the debris left by the explosion on the comet.

[theorist]

2. This is a warmup for next year.

That's when they're going to blow up the Sun! :D

[DustMolecule]

4. Could 'they' do that????

:wow:

(If we do this right, we could be quoted in the NYT ;-) - where they have NO sense of humor or discretion, it appears)

See here if you don't know what I'm referring to:
http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=102x1116859

on edit: moved the smiley

[lovuian]

3. Hey what happens if the rocket blows up before

it gets there???

[unpossibles]

6. or perhaps this is thier way of saying

"this comet is heading right for us, and we need an excuse to blow it up without making everyone panic." Or practicing for the same in the future perhaps.

[lovuian]

7. Bingo!!!

or there is another comet they are worried about!!!

[soothsayer]

12. yep, like the asteroid that went from 1 in 300 chance of hitting us

to one in 60 and then 1 in 37 and then, oops, no chance whatsoever. Riiiiight.

I only hope they don't CAUSE it to hit us (accidentally or on purpose)

[WannaJumpMyScooter]

8. Wanna bet this is a nuke?

There has been much concern about this comet's tail coming too close to earth.

This could be a dress-rehearsal for another one, or someone has made the decision this one will be too close for comfort.

[lovuian]

9. Why didn't our news media pick this up???

I bet this was top secret and somebody let it out!!!

[jbnow]

11. It has been in news since planning stage

But the science pages. This isn't the one that is coming too close but they have always noted it will help them learn to deal with one that does.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2004/01/0129_040129_deepimpact.html

snip
Planning for the Deep Impact mission began in 1999. It culminates on July 4, 2005, when a "fly-by" spacecraft will release a smaller "impactor" spacecraft, which will smash into comet Tempel 1 at 37,000 kilometers (22,000 miles) per hour.

snip
While the experiment will not throw Tempel 1 off its course, it will help scientists devise ways of how to deflect a comet in the unlikely event that one threatens Earth, a doomsday scenario depicted in movies such as Armageddon and Deep Impact.

"If you want to deflect a comet it's very important to understand how it will react to what you do to it," said A'Hearn "This mission will tell us directly what would be the best methods to use."

[Moderator]

13. Duplicate

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=102&topic_id=1115632