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NASA Prepares to Launch Comet-Buster
Chessphoon writes "NASA's Deep Impact, a spacecraft named after the 1998 movie, is scheduled to launch on January 12. If all goes as planned, the spacecraft will collide with Comet Tempel 1 six months later on July 4, and create a crater so that the inside of the comet can be analyzed."
Yes, I read TFA. I know that there is no danger. But those crazy scientists in the movies always think they are safe too.
Photography, technology, and my dog Scout - http://mattstratton.com
That's going to be interesting to see.
IMO, why waste money to see the content of a comet? There are so many better things to learn and explore in this great cosmos of ours.
I really think they will be sorely disappointed when they discover the comet is really some rock covered with ice.
Some call me Howie Feltersnatch
And how much did it cost this time? NASA really should be run more like a corporation instead of a Government organization. They spend 300 million on what a company could build with 30 million. www.gameguidesonline.com
What if the comets retaliate by impacting Earth?
"There are some people that if they don't know, you can't tell them." ~ Louis Armstrong
The NASA project was *not* named after the movie. Read http://www.cnn.com/2005/TECH/space/01/01/comet.bus ter.ap/index.html
for the real story.
From a previous slashdot article.
Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy. -- Benjamin Franklin
The mission is NOT named after the movie, the project manager claims that they came up with the name independently at around the same time. However, members of the team also served as consultants on the movie.
Oh dear god! They smashed the spaceship into Slashdot!
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
Twenty bucks says by some freak accident of nature, the commet ends up hitting Earth.
Deep Impact.
Was Tara Reid in that?
course with earth and we have to figure out how to nudge it off course, the data this mission gathers will be invaluable.
The ass we save may be our own.
--Rob
I created the Event Horizon to reach the stars, but she's gone much, much farther than that. She tore a whole in our universe, a gateway to another dimension, a dimension of pure chaos, pure evil
it'd take a bigger impact for her to feel it.
[thunk] [thunk] [thunk] Any nerves not insulated by silicone?
--Rob
Uh-oh, better call Maaco!
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
NASA should have considered planning this mission to be a near-flyby. Given their record of hitting what they aim to miss and missing what they aim to hit...
Everybody's a libertarian 'till their neighbour's becomes a crack house.
They should get the ESA to oversee/launch this mission. They seem to have no problem impacting their spacecraft.
smile
Wheras the pioneer spacecraft carried media of human genome, voices, sounds, animals, how the world workewd, this mission needed to crater a giant comet.
Therefore, the media stored on board consists of Gigli, Ishtar, Hudson hawk, Battlefield Earth, and The Adventures of Pluto Nash.
There's nothing Intelligent about Intelligent Design.
that was a big one :)
Can the editors get a clue, as said in other articles else where on the net, the name DEEP IMPACT was determined about the same time as the movie title was, but was 100% a coincedence and not chosen because of a movie.
Yes a small anal point, but jeez, you guys fail basic Journalism 101 class dudes.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
What a great gesture of intergallactic diplomacy.
We send out a spacecraft with a plaque theorizing someone could intercept it. Do we think hurling a bomb is any less likely to be found by an alien civilization?
Because if all comets are NOT ice, but just normal asteroids that generate massive plasma/electric charges, then that changes *ALL* theories on how the earth/solar system was evolved, and that throws out other derived theories, and then it makes more new ones, which would lead to more discoveries and finally allowing you to get your anti-gravity device to get to the moon. OK.
Liberty freedom are no1, not dicks in suits.
Create a crater? Is this what the British were trying to do with Beagle 2? It all makes sense now...
It's rare that you're presented with a knob whose only two positions are Make History and Flee Your Glorious Destiny.
Bruce Willis was in Armageddon, not Deep Impact.
"NASA's Deep Impact, a spacecraft named after the 1998 movie"
...and next year the "Preparation H" will probe an asteroid. It will be the first spacecraft in history entirely covered in latex.
[satelite]Hi Mr. Comet! How are you today?
[comet] Fine... who are you?
[satelite]*points* Look! Its the good-year blimp!
[Comet] Huh?! Where?
[satelite]*BOOM*!!!
... and in the DRM, bind them.
Now I have that lame ghostbusters song in my head.
That piece of shit OS would crash itself into the comet.
Send an I-pod instead. That might survive. If it doesn't get stolen en-route.
Meta will eat itself
That movie sucked. I hope that isn't an indicator on how the mission will go.
Michael Jackson (who can pay his own way) Chuck Norris, Rush Limbaugh J-Low, and that guy with the high pitched voice.
Chris Tucker?
I wonder if they will send it up squeakey clean biologically or if they will let it fly full of microbes so that we can have a chance at seeding another planet with our wonderfully fruity DNA.
Even those who arrange and design shrubberies are under considerable economic stress at this period in history.
She thinks that the NASA is just hiding the fact that the comet is about to hit us and is dangerous so they decided to blow it up but masked the attempt as a scientific experiment.
:)
(and before you, smartasses, ask me, yes, she is a girl
You can't handle the truth.
Dude, the cold war is over. My bet is that half of your computer hardware was manufactured in Taiwan.
You Americans are the only ones that believe we (the western, "democratic" nations) actually need that thing...
So, blow up a chunk of what we expect to be ice and rock... just to confirm that it is, indeed. Ice and rock. Maybe it's magic space rock! i think this project might just be:
a.) a geologists wet dream
b.) a way for nasa to prove it can do something right, and get more money. (1.) Shoot missle at comet. 2.)?? 3.) Government Funding!)
The Titan project (forget the name) is far better.
"If it's done safely, therapeutically, there's no danger involved."
-- I prefer the term "karma escort."
by the way, she is rubbing her breasts against myself right now, and it feels good, and at the same time she is licking my ear and at the same time she is coming up with this cool shit and .... I am going....
You can't handle the truth.
SDI Was not put in place to combat the cold war, SDI was recently developed and not in any related way to the cold war. So Dude, you easteren people must be the only people that somehow think america is invincible and an endless well of money.
I'm going to assume you meant by the comet crashing into a planet, and isn't it a creditable belief that some of the material responsible for life on earth was brought by comets? Perhaps a alien civilisation's equivalent of this probe was the basis for the entire of life on Earth? :)
On a slightly more serious note, all NASA space gear is assembled in a clean room, and they do almost everything they can to prevent microbes from contaminating equipment.
Modded as funny, but it could equally be insightful.
the nanotech civilization living on the comet wipes Earth off the Solar System...
With luck, they'll be more precise about it and just wipe out the US government.
Well, we can hope...
Richard Steven Hack - This sig is TOO GODDAMN SHORT TO DO ANYTHING USEFUL WITH! MORONS!
Has anyone played around with their little Java orbit simulator? It seems to me that in 2022 or so, the comet will come to a very near miss or possibly even impact with Mars. How reliable is this simulator in the long run, and how likely is it that something of that nature would occur and/or have any major effects?
First Arnold ends up with a possibility for being president (not likely I hope) and now this. Does Hollywood have a real-live psychic helping with storylines or is it the other way around and this culture is that influenced by movies? (note: terrible attempt at sarcasm)
42.
I see lots of posts of the IQ deficient saying that this project is a waste of money. Tell me, when NASA has no money, why would they "waste" it by smashing copper into a near orbiting asteroid?
Answer this you fucking myopic retards and you've gotten your answer.
Align this with the fact that the US, EU, and Australia began building asteroid intercept craft's in 1999. You kids really have short memories and attention span's.
You will notice a correlation here that we are about to get smacked and that this information is being withheld so you fuckers can continue to do what you are told. Squeel little piggies.
I'm glad we're finally doing something about these damned comets.
Kill 'em all!
Mayday Mayday! this is slashball 1, we've been hit hit! with rasberry's!!
First, they must have taken a page from the particle physics book: smash things together and see what happens.
Second, we already know they're good at crashing things, so this shouldn't be a problem. In all seriousness, I look forward to it.
webpage
Cant cure cancer. Cant cure AIDs either. Cant kill terrorists. But hell, lets blow up some comets!
Hell, no. Cris Tucker would talk the thing into a million pieces and send them raining upon our solar system.
I will not try and discourage you all from being second-hand dogprotoge's, but henceforth I got to tell you irrelevant assracking binoculars that there's more in no mam's life than cracked-eyed donuts and your forensic so-called stuff that matters.
I won't try to immunate your moralistic unconciousness with irrelevant remarks like deo volente or carpe diem, but you should at least try to once see freaking more than this squared-ass blasphemy of what you are trying to achieve! Get out of your junked-boned plutoniumheap in Mary-freaking-Poppins-Ass-his-name to once see more than the indulgent pixel on your screen and the womb your social retireness was once created. Does this life of yours furfill a usefull purpose? Get on your legs, assraiders. Check barslecht.nl
at band camp, we converted my flute into a rocket. We had a launch and it intercepted an asteroid. We steered the asteroid into a collision path with the earth. It was all very politically motivated of course. You see we wanted to bring in the new world order with a bang.
Seems like NASA's been having a lot of success lately. These are exciting times and im glad to be alive. Let's go to mars!
"...ah two-hoo, ah three."
(Crunch).
"Three."
QED.
And Earth is the left side pocket...
The race isn't always to the swift... but that's the way to bet!
NASA's Deep Impact, a spacecraft named after the 1998 movie why would anybody want to remember that movie let alone name something after it. The only reason it was made was because celestial objects destroying the planet was in that year. I mean remember that one fad where volcanoes destroying stuff was in. But i dont think NASA would be that connected into hollywood-movie-pop-fopa to name something after a movie because movies are so fake. I mean hell no one would name a fusion generator the octavious because a guy in spiderman2 created the most bullshit fusion reaction ever. Just my feeling.
I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. - Catcher in the Rye
Except for the fact that they aren't blowing up the comet.
sorry, the yanks are the ones that are trying to militarize space. the whole "fortress america" thing is an act. how would a space based missle defence system stop any of the attacks that the united states has EVER experienced? it wont, and it couldnt. the whole thing is an excuse to put weapons in space to rain death on brown people all over the world.
what a waste of a perfectly good spaceship, and several million dollars.
design a comet buster buster? What then?
that impact may well be deep, and lasting. ;)
Have you been touched by his noodly appendage?
creative spelling. i didnt feel like looking it up so i winged it. i do the same on homework.
I thought what I'd do was, I'd pretend I was one of those deaf-mutes. - Catcher in the Rye
The NASA project was NOT named after the movie of the same name.
It was named after Armageddon.
https://www.eff.org/https-everywhere
1. How come we always try to do the most far-fetched shit humanly possible. It's a ball of ice people.
2. Is this a velied anti-semetic attack? (take some time with it....now you've got it)
3. Didn't Mercury stop making Comets? This has got to be too valuable to blow a crater in.
befuddled (noun) 1. Unable to create a pithy sig
Wow, you actually figured it out? We, the yanks, have known exactly what the point of this was for years.
;-)
China is also seeking to militarize space. This would happen with or without the US being around. If the US or China wasn't there to do it, the old Soviet Union would have been happy to fill in the void. I am sure every one of the countries under the label of "axis of evil" would spring at the opportunity to also seek space weaponry if they had the resources. I would also bet a little dictator with death rays from space would have no problem obliterating your skinny, white european hyde. The US, on the other hand, would probably seek free trade agreements and offer humanitarian and military aid if you choose sides with them.
While I disagree with the premise of the current occupation, it is disturbing to see so many people whine about a nation which brought them the very technology they use to complain about it.
Hopefully, next time we won't spend hundreds of billions rebuilding europe, japan and company. Apparently, assisting them in their wars while being a constant source of aid doesn't give one any political tout anymore, so screw it.
Enjoy the attention whore.
you mean "her" avatar is a girl? otherwise, i'm sorry, but you are off the island.
Most of the ideas that I have heard for averting comets involve deflecting them, and not blowing them it.
Ewige Blumenkraft.
...but if the "Heaven's Gate" cult was right, we might be killing several aliens and the spirits of all the 39 dead humans who "warped" to the comet after committing suicide.
Deep Impact, by contrast, will provide "instant gratification," says Grammier. The entire $330 million mission should be wrapped up a month after impact.
So, the Europeans are going to geeeently land their little rover (Beagle III?), putter around, and delicately inspect rocks and dust. Boooriiiinng! :-)
NASA, in typical American fashion...
KA-BLOOIEE! Blow it up! Blow it up! I'm so glad I'm an American. This is a country that combines science, space explosions, and patriotism into one very cool bundle. And we can take pictures of it from Mars.I. Love. This. Countryyy! Yeeeeeeaaah! *does Bush/Ballmer monkey dance*
Oh, it's called the Rosetta. Sorry. I even quoted that. Doh!
But the Beagle jab was said in jest anyway.
Everything in the universe has a purpose, a lot of which is still being discovered. Shooting a comet with out weighing out the possibilites, is lame. This one small comet may some where down the line hit a larger comet and prevent it from hitting us, who knows. They sure don't. It's a chain of events.
Michael A'Hearn is a very nice guy.
We already know what they'll find in the middle of the comet. Naquadah.
Three dits, four dits, two dits, dah!
Radio, radio, rah rah rah!
if it hits to hard, it will set off the naquita that the go'aold hid in the center of the crater! get major carter up ther NOW!!!
like, mini-CDs are soooo 90's.
There's also the fact that it's a known comet that any amature astronomer with a half decent telescope can track and calculate its orbit.
Of course they could be lying about the target, but considering astronomers all around the world will be watching the target they told us, I don't think that's true. If there were a conspiracy why not just launch it without telling us the details.
if this was in a cartoon, the copper pod would miss the comet, make a 180 turn around its gravity field and crash in bruce willi`s house
It IS named after the movie. Well, because of it at least.
I'll admit, you have the current "official statement" correct. None of the higher-ups want a project named after a hollywood movie. In the future this might well be the exact opposite, as advertising is the lifeblood of the space industry.
I'd say you could get the facts by emailing one of the minor team members, but they really have better things to do, so lets just beleive what we will.