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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."
Where is Bruce Willis when you need him.
"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 all mentioned in the article, which I'm sure you read but forgot. A TV sized unit will seperate a day earlier and go smack into the "big rock". The other craft will monitor from a safe distance.
Trolling is a art,
Good to see that for once a crash-course is intentional for NASA. Mayhap they have found their niche... :)
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?
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!
I don't know if they will find rock or not. I looked inside of my can of Comet(TM) and all that is inside is some greenish white cleanser.
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!
Rock.
M$'s sense of morality.
Linux community's sense of Joe6Pack Useability(tm)
A chewy creamy center
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
I'm sure you just forgot this after reading the article, but the names of the movie and project were apparently derived independently of each other--and around the same time.
It's not like 2004 rolled around and someone who saw the movie decided to call the project 'Deep Impact'
There is another slightly smaller comet inside...
The eternal struggle of good vs. evil begins within one's self.
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.
It's the ultimate disc of greatest hits.
Deep Impact - $330 millon dollars and it looks like a vibrator...Where the fuck are the 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....