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Deep Impact Blasts Off For Comet Tempel 1
Wynken de Word writes "NASA's Deep Impact, a copper-fortified, comet-busting spacecraft, was launched Wednesday afternoon. 'NASA had a single second - at precisely eight seconds past 1:47 p.m. - to send Deep Impact on a 431-million-kilometre, six-month voyage to Comet Tempel 1.' The goal is to blast a big hole in the comet and check out what's preserved inside. Also see the Deep Impact site."
"cor! they put a ding in our chariot! call AAA!"
I sure hope they did a better job of packing this one.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Where is Bruce Willis when you need him.
The goal is to blast a big hole in the comet and check out what's preserved inside i bet it's rock inside... just a guess :)
~/.sig: No such file or directory
Wouldn't the impact destroy all instruments? or after making a dent, will they plan to send another carft to look at it :-)
Wont the inhabitants of this comet regard this as an act of war?
"Do comets and our own planet have something in common? This clever mission could answer the question once and for all. "
Very rarely is anything complex answered once and for all.
Don't moderate flamebait as Troll. Know the difference or you will be Meta-moderated.
That's not metric time!
Good to see that for once a crash-course is intentional for NASA. Mayhap they have found their niche... :)
I was recently reading a book which talked about the possibility of projects such as this. It is well worth a read if you can get your hands on it.
Also, the article says how a lot of the simulation was done on Open Source software, namely this. Give it a download.
The goal is to blast a big hole in the comet and check out what's preserved inside.
Is that what has happened to the goatse-guy?
They will find cheese !
Someone at NASA is a fan of Paramonunt's 'Deep Impact' (1998)
As always there are updates at spaceflightnow.com. It appears the spacecraft has safed itself as of a few minutes ago....not good.
- "Hear that?! The percolations are imminent! Cease your ingress!"
Doh!
The impactor will disintegrate instantly when it hits, as will its small payload, a compact disc containing more than 500,000 names of people who wanted to vicariously tag along.
Man, I want to be on that CD!
"NASA had a single second - at precisely eight seconds past 1:47 p.m. - to send Deep Impact on a 431-million-kilometre, six-month voyage to Comet Tempel 1" Missing this window of oportunity will prevent the residents of ISS their yearly alotment of ice, a necessary precursor for snowcones.
09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B - D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0 45 5F E1 04 22 CA 29 C4 93 3F 95 05 2B 79 2A B2
Sure, it's all fun and games until you knock it off course and it crashes into some guy's house in China.
Does anyone else find it disturbing that NASA named a mission aimed to penetrate a comet after a [bad] movie about a comet penetrating the Earth?
I guess it's better than Armageddon - they probably couldn't get funding for that one.
There are 01 types of people in this world. Those that understand binary, and me.
Rock.
M$'s sense of morality.
Linux community's sense of Joe6Pack Useability(tm)
A chewy creamy center
unfortunately for NASA they didn't check with their local Insurance mafia and so they're rates are going to SKYROCKET!!!!
Because science is not measured by how many people we send into space.
Very rarely is anything complex answered once and for all.
Obviously you don't read the Weekly World News.
BTW, chief NASA engineer Bat Boy assures me that everything is going as planned.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
Sorry to be negative, but I predict a miss.
Rock, ice, a funny little guy with a trojan helmet (squashed by the probe), a dog with a trojan helmet, a gumball machine full of instant martians and MSG.
A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
My bunker is ready. Is yours???
i assume that they didn't write those names with a sharpie, but rather with a text file and cd burner software. its just arbitrary encoding to me, the way i would read that disc is that it contains MY name and noone else's :P
We, as a race, don't know all that much really about "whats out there." But we are still able to figure out where a comet is going to be an how to impact it. But did we stop to think about the possible implications this mission could have on the universe? They were talking on the news about how it will probably make a crater the size of a football field. We already know that that is a huge amount of force.
Think about it like this, you have an 800 pound mass (the 1st rocket, destined for impact) traveling at 37000 kph. Effectively creating the force of 4 and a half tons of TNT going off. If this explosion happened at the surface it would probably make no difference whatsoever, but its not. Will this impact alter the trajectory of the comet? It might only slightly shift it, but for a planet far far away, that slight shift might be enough to cause a ELE on the planet that the comet might now ultamitely hit.
I realize its a longshot scenario, and I'm sure taken into account at some point. But was it taken seriously enough?
Anyway, just my little, "are we considering everything" thoughts....
Memories become legend, Legend fades to myth, and even myth is forgotten by the time that age comes again.-Robert Jordan
Just to clarify, Deep Impact didn't have a launch window of only 1:47:08 PM EST, it also could have launched at 1:08:20 PM EST for 12 January 2004. It actually had until 28 January to launch.
By how many we get back alive?
'Cause the Shuttle is old. It's only good for LEO and, to be quite honest, LEO is boring. We need better spacecraft to take us any further than our front porch. So I say let the Shuttle go the way of the dodo bird. Perhaps keep one or two around for emergency work, but certainly don't go upgrading the thing. Start afresh!
What is your penile percentile?
could the copper impactor hit the earth some time of the future?
It's the ultimate disc of greatest hits.
Will this save us if there is a comet on a collision course?
This is another way of starting a sig with this and ending it with that.
Deep Impact - $330 millon dollars and it looks like a vibrator...Where the fuck are the jokes?
The goal is to blast a big hole in the comet and check out what's preserved inside
*** MUST RESIST GOATSE JOKES ***
On a related topic, Huygens impacts Saturn 36 hours from the time of this posting. This is the most distant physical impact ever (since Galileo sailed into Jupiter's clouds). Will we find rock, ice, or a hydrocarbon ocean?
First, NASA is fixing the shuttle as much as it can be fixed. We really need a better launch system for humans and probably a separate heavy launch system. Shuttle reliability and cost/kg in orbit have some integral problems.
Second, there's a heck of a lot we need to know about space. For example, the comet will tell us what the early solar system was made of. This is useful in that it tells us about the remnants of supernovas that produce most of the elements we're made of (except for hydrogen). The data will help us fine-tune our understanding of how our solar system was created - are Earth-like planets rare or common?
Lastly, taking a longer view, this is a preparatory mission for man's emergence from the cradle Earth. We'll know what comets are made of, how they're put together (rubble or solid) and what we'll need to know to move them. Why move a comet? Two reasons - one, if one's aimed at Earth, it would be a useful skill. Two, if you want to provide a cheap source of water, comets might be a good source, either placed into orbit, or deposited on Mars for use by colonies later.
Karma Killer:
I for one welcome our comet-moving overlords - as long as it's we ourselves.
In Russia, the probe hits the comet!
This sig seemed like a good idea at the time....
Don't worry, 17 "Mike Hunt"s are already listed on the CD. Its nice to see that we're sending our sense of humor along with our hardware.
No mod points, no meta-moderating/Firehose/all the other free work Slashdot wants me to do.
Was anyone else cheering for the big wave at the end of that movie?
Yeah, then we could resume vital activities like looking after zero-G ant farms.
The Empire Strikes Back
Odd that they didn't mention anything about the CD they sent up with it.
on one hand, it states "[the impactor]is designed to obliterate itself, as it excavates a crater possibly large enough to swallow the Roman Coliseum", but also "In the world of science, this is the astronomical equivalent of a 767 airliner running into a mosquito."
I'm not an aerospace engineer, but is it possible for a mosquito to make a crater on the surface of a 767 airliner?
Ohhh Suuureee, they just want to "see what's inside" and not "divert a catastrophic E.L.E.".
- Nick Busey
www.pedalbmx.com
www.nickbusey.com
Sweet.. i wasnt sure if i signed up to be on that cd.. but i did... along with my brothers name, my moms name, my dads name, my 2 dead dogs names and my 1 living dogs name 7 family members are going to crash into that comet, yay!
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Man, that's deep.
...everybody knows that comets have chewy caramel centers.
well, in name only.
They had a website where you can submit your name to be burnt onto a Gold CD, which was attached to the impactor.
I figured it was my only way of saying I was in space.
And the only way to say that I pulled a Bruce Willis (armageddon).
Theres a few good ones.
All
the lonely children of the universe!
Billy (greedy, theres lots)
Unsurprising really, but I wonder if it was one the editors
and one more (omg @ this)
Brucey!
liqbase
The fact that you do not understand something doesn't mean that you can say that it is useless or unworthy. Bye, Luca
I'm there. (Unless there's a bill from the Comet Aliens. [Or worse like in David Brin's story in the Jan/Feb Analog.] Then it was someone else.)
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
My personal favorite (obviously a Pump Up The Volume fan)
No mod points, no meta-moderating/Firehose/all the other free work Slashdot wants me to do.
There are plenty of Ben Dovers too.
And a few Ben Dover AnTakeIt's, some Seymour Buttz'. Amanda Hugandkiss is there. It's nice to see that Phil McCracken and Hugh Jass are invloved. What of Jenny Talia?
Are NASA this stupid or what? I'd be pissed if I was one of the guys who signed up thinking my name was going to be part of a serious scientific venture.
I don't need no instructions to know how to rock!!!!
What if it misses and DESTROYS THE MOON!!!
:D
Then we'll have gone to far and the world will end in chaos, with man living as animals and psychic mutnnnts ruling the world.
Ave Molech Setting
Check it out. With some luck, this could be a movie that might give us faith again into those action movies where everything is all over the place.
If the aliens from the comet come and start killing the folks named on that CD, I'll just have to hope that my cow orkers mispelled my name, as usual.
See what I've been reading.
Wait a minute, won't that affect the measurements?
For large sets, this will be our guide even unto death, for the LORD will work for each type of data it is applied to...
Am I the only pervert who is getting to many pr0n refrences out of this? Deep Impact, Deep Impact Blasts, probe...
Doesn't NASA know! Tempel is made of people!
I was disappointed that I'm number 470957, but maybe that's not such a bad thing if they go in numerical order. ("No, in your face # 470956!")
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.
The goal is to blast a big hole in the comet and check out what's preserved inside.
Ahh, it's nice to see NASA adopting the same respect for the environment that got mankind where it is today.
"Whatcha think's in that comet?"
"Could be ice, could be life... I dunno. Let's blow it up and see!"
I mean, OK, it's unlikely that life could be living on the comet, but isn't there a less destructive way to learn about it before opting for the fireworks?
Earth and that comet are both places where humanity is invading, waging war, and making a total nuisance of itself...
'The goal is to blast a big hole in the comet and check out what's preserved inside.'
Won't the impact change the makeup/properties of what *was* preserved inside? If nothing else, it's going to have a higher than normal copper content (and some bits of plastic from that CD).
On the other hand, it does sound like fun. I *love* blowing stuff up!!!
Has anyone ever wondered if comets are possibly ancient spaceships or satelites that may or may not be working anymore and have accumulated a bunch of space crud?
:-)
I mean, say a ship had taken some damage in space and its air and water leaked out, wouldn't it just freeze around the ship?
Then you add any dust particles that it encounters sticking to it so that over thousands of years, it just ends up looking like the dirty ice balls we all see through our telescopes.
I know it sounds all sci-fi and stuff, but I wouldn't be surprised if we find some ancient fossilized life on that thing (simple or complex).
Just a thought...
DEAD DEAD DEAD DELETE ME
i thought i got first post but then realised this was -1 S.P.A.M. (Sound Proof Advertising Marketing)
Soundproofing Acoustics noise
If the person that discovered this comet is pissed that NASA is going to blast a big hole in it. Or pleased that it's going to be used in such a big experiment.
/shrug
Just thinking out loud
Technology, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
If only our telescopes were that good.
Scientist:Odd we seem to be detecting a bit of plastic, so that's what the universe is made out of!
Technology, the cause of and solution to all of life's problems.
2) It will be far too late for these 500,000 people to realize their mistake when the inhabitants of the comet decide to hunt down and kill the 500,000 people who signed their name to this missle designed to attack their home...
Funniest thing I've read in a while.
Forget the whales - save the babies.
and one more (omg @ this)
Brucey!
wasnt he there already?
No you don't - The spammer who collected all 500,000 names is strapped in right next to it ;)
unzip ; strip ; touch ; grep ; find ; finger ; mount ; fsck ; more ; yes ; fsck ; umount ; sleep
Are NASA this stupid or what? I'd be pissed if I was one of the guys who signed up thinking my name was going to be part of a serious scientific venture.
why?? how does someone elses sense of humour at all detract from the value of your contribution?? If they wanted to spend the money on making sure Hugh Jass was represented, it's no skin off of you, my or anyone elses ass...
ye gods.. just because you're a crufty stick in the mud doesn't mean EVERYONE else is...
The chains are broken
Loki is free
Ragnarok is at hand...
when I was a child I thought that comets were giant flares sent by aliens which light up when they're near a star (a source of life!) and if you traced back their trajectory, you'd find the origin of the people that sent them. Now I know better though: they're WMD!
would require some celestial intervention.
couldnt they have made up a better name? come on... its depressing
I am very sucseptible to "let's have another drink"
Earth declares war on another celestial body, invasion fleet launches to intercept!
It's ALL about the marketing.
"Curiosity killed the cat, but for a while I was a suspect."- Steven Wright
(Yes, I will be asking if I can be "on shift" that night... and if I don't get lucky, I'll probably go partway up the mountain for some stargazing and perhaps a look at a comet.)
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
Once again I have to wonder if NASA is really necessary anymore. I realize that there's a whole lot of people that wouldn't really have a field anymore if it was shut down, but seriously. If they've got nothing better to do than to launce a jeep-sized camera so we can make a dent in a comet and take pictures of it, they need to find something better to do, or someone else's money to do it with. Aside from the notion itself being a ridiculous waste of money, let's just look at the details shall we? Or should I say the lack there of? They don't know what it looks like, they don't know what it is, they think the core is oblong shaped. Great, let's toss a grenade at it and see what happens. What a great, brilliant, and might I add extremely well thought out proposal. I'll be right with you, I just need to go get a bag of rocks to throw at people so I can see what they're like with dents in them.
Please be kind, I am new to this.
taken methinks. Even at roughly 300 miles the comet is still moving very fast relative to the mothership who will be snapping away. I am afraid of just getting blurred images sent back or worse no good close-ups at all since the comet could be out of view by the time the camera starts snapping. We're talking 23,000 mph!!
That comets are really extra-terrestrial
spacecraft flying in "stealth" mode.
And they are really going to be pissed
about NASA's deliberate collision. NASA
can expect an envoy from the intergalactic
transportation safety board (ITSB), demanding
just compensation for damage to the space
craft, as well as delaying/impeding/traumatizing
the intergalactic travelers.
I am Anonymous Coward, but still I think a mosquito flying into a cruising 767 at 45,000 feet at 600 MPH would create a 13x4 cm diameter conical impact crater (calculations done on old newspaper) - of course assuming that the mosquito is made of copper and the aircraft is made of icy methane...
Anyone who has read Gulliver's Travels know that things don't scale up or down very well.at anything. Another proof
I keep coming back and reading the comments on this one. Some are kind of interesting. Every time I read something on it, I can't help but have the desire for a huge build up with an agonizing roar of "AAAWWWW!!!!" as it misses the rock by a 100 meters or so. Not that I want to see the mission fail, but I rarely complain when things like this do. It's just kind of funny.