Probe to 'Look Inside' Asteroids

bigjnsa500 writes "A new space mission concept by the European Space Agency called Deep Interior was unveiled at a Paris conference earlier this week, according to the BBC. Apparently: 'It aims to look inside asteroids to reveal how they are made. Deep Interior would use radar to probe the origin and evolution of two near-Earth objects less than 1km across. The mission, which could launch some time later this decade, would also give clues to how the planets evolved.' NASA also has a similar concept called Deep Impact."

Comments

Probe? Roids?

[Neil Blender]

Cue the uranus jokes:

wait for it...

GO!

Re:Probe? Roids?

[onosendai]

Obligatory Futurama Quote:

Fry: Hey, as long as you don't make me smell Uranus. (laughs)
Leela: I don't get it.
Professor: I'm sorry, Fry, but astronomers renamed Uranus in 2620 to end that stupid joke once and for all.
Fry: Oh. What's it called now?
Professor: Urectum. Here, let me locate it for you.
Fry: Hehe, no, no, I think I'll just smell around a bit over here.

Re:Probe? Roids?

[Alien Being]

A five year mission, to seek out new worlds, new civilizations, to boldly go ... where? Hey, what happened to the Venus plan?

I looked into an Asteroids once

[Anonymous Crowhead]

Found a bunch of quarters.

Re:I looked into an Asteroids once

[rde]

Are you sure they were quarters? I thought most asteroids had a high nickel content.

Re:I looked into an Asteroids once

[Anonymous Crowhead]

Are you sure they were quarters? I thought most asteroids had a high nickel content.

There's a token.

So NASA is using movie names?

[NightWulf]

So at this rate let's see what NASA's future projects are:

Project Lord of the Rings (2012, Probe to check out the rings of Saturn)

Project Pluto Nash (2009, A giant probe/bomb to send to the planetoid Pluto in hopes of melting the ice)

Project Mercury Rising (2015, Mission to send an autistic austronaut to Mercury to see if it really is as hot as they think)

Come on people, what other movie names can fit in well with future NASA missions?

Re:So NASA is using movie names?

[0racle]

The Perfect Storm - Measurements of Jupiter's Great Red Spot
Red Heat - Terraforming Mars
The Phantom Menace - Cataloging Black Holes
Clear and Present Danger - Tracking Near Earth Asteroids

Sorry but I really have nothing better to do.

Re:So NASA is using movie names?

[rokzy]

Project Apollo 13 to um.... d'oh!

Re:So NASA is using movie names?

[SEWilco]

• Spiderman: Space elevator construction.
• Catwoman: Space elevator climbing.
• Fahrenheit 9/11: Testing of temperature measurement and conversion methods.
• Dude, Where's my Car?: Examination of Apollo lunar relics.
• I, Robot: Self-controlled self-directed probe searching for Philosopher's Stone.
• Control Room: Simulator of Control Room.
• The Day After Tomorrow: Government daily project scheduling research.
• Dodgeball: Moving Earth out of the way of asteroids
• Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle: Dual mission to test gas giant atmospheric fueling.
• A Home At The End Of The World: Antarctic Mars outpost simulation.
• The Hunting Of The President: Annual NASA budget approvals.
• Man On Fire: Launch pad safety testing.
• The Manchurian Candidate: Racing China to the Moon.
• Maria Full of Grace: Space burial missions.
• Natural Disaster: First mission to film an Earth-impact asteroid.
• Natural Distaster: Final mission to film an Earth-impact asteroid.
• Raising Helen: Launch of perfect mission to Trojan orbits.
• Sleepover: Concurrent artificial hibernation experiments.
• The Stepford Wives: Mission combining best of human and robotic technologies.
• The Story of the Weeping Camel: Lunar water extraction mission.
• Super Size Me: Food production from carbonaceous asteroid.
• The Terminal: Orbital spaceport.
• Thunderbirds: Rescue squad.
• Troy: Gold extraction mission to asteroid.
• Van Helsing: Orbital assembly of probe from pieces of old probes.
• The Village: First Lunar maternity ward.
• White Chicks: Underground lunar aquatic recreation facility.
• White Heat: Mercury rover mission.
• Little Black Book: Mission scheduling system.
• Alien vs. Predator: Mission to make two asteroids collide.
• We Don't Live Here Anymore: Probe to document effects after first Earth impact asteroid.
• Without A Paddle: Experiments in zero-gravity propulsion by astronaut in large enclosed space.
• Exorcist: The Beginning: First mission to hold an umbrella between warming Earth and the Sun.
• Remember Me, My Love: Archive library mission before first Earth-impact asteroid.
• Bright Young Things: Meteors caused by human space debris.
• The Brown Bunny: Lunar coprolites.
• Hero: NASA lobbyist.
• Vanity Fair: Satellite whose primary instrument is a telescope which examines its own reflection on terrestrial smooth surfaces.
• Last Life In The Universe: Ongoing reality show on NASA TV
• The Cookout: Automated management of rotation for the cooling of space habitats.
• Head In The Clouds: NASA mission statement.
• Taxi: Rutan outsourcing
• Shall We Dance: Phobos/Deimos sampling mission.
• Flight of the Phoenix: International Space Station emergency escape plan.
• After the Sunset: Post-terminator tracking probe.
• Terminator 2: Second post-terminator tracking probe.
• House of Flying Daggers: Saturn ring fly-through mission.
• The Woodsman: Android to be sent ahead of manned mission to prepare site and then await discovery.
• Proof: Global temperature measurement mission.
• Fat Albert: Orion drive test using proven "Fat Man" technology.
• Are We There Yet?: Mission status monitoring system.

Do It Right

[SEWilco]

I'd prefer a mission where the inside of an asteroid is examined by taking it apart.

How many grad students can fit in a Space Shuttle cargo bay?

Re:So wait...

[geekoid]

as long as it's not nugat.
If it's nugat, they'll have to look around to see if anyone is watching, and then put it back.

Re:Deep Impact

[andymar]

How many science flaws can you find in Deep Impact, the movie ?

Re:I think, it's

[tepples]

And because the film-makers wanted less wooden actors, possibly.

I guess that explains why filmmakers can't seem to make a decent interpretation of Collodi's The Adventures of Pinocchio.

NASA Press Conference

[jav1231]

"Well, we've managed to get the probe on the asteroid. This 1.2billion dollar mining probe has worked flawlessly. After 6 months of drilling some 300meters into the surface of the asteroid we can finally report that the asteriod core is made up of the same rock that it's crust is made of. Thank you."

Didn't they just do this?

[955301]

My understanding is that Euro-space just recently buried a probe into the asteriod 'Mars'. Aren't they still waiting to get data back from that one?