Deep Impact probe heading for new comet (AP/CNN)

[eppur_se_muova]

COLLEGE PARK, Maryland (AP) -- The surviving portion of the Deep Impact space probe that watched as its other half smashed into a comet on July 4 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.

Researchers hope information gathered from Boethin will help further the understanding of how comets formed and evolved and if they played a role in the emergence of life on Earth.

On July 4, the U.S. Independence Day holiday, an 820-pound copper probe separated from Deep Impact and collided with comet Tempel 1 while instruments on Deep Impact and Earth-based telescopes watched to see what the wreckage would reveal about the comet.

The new mission will not involve a collision. Instead, Deep Impact will pass Boethin in December 2008 so its instruments can examine the comet.
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more: http://www.cnn.com/2006/TECH/space/10/31/deep.impact.ap/index.html

Cool! I didn't know UMCP was involved.

[TechBear_Seattle]

1. I would like to see a mission to the Oort Cloud

Get some pictures of comets in their "natural habitat," as it were. I doubt we could do much other than take pictures, as there is a light speed lag of about five hours. Still, it would be interesting.

[eppur_se_muova]

2. Would you settle for the Kuiper Belt? (link)

http://pluto.jhuapl.edu/

[TechBear_Seattle]

3. That will do for now

:hi: