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Tempel 1 Impact Day After Tomorrow
TerminaMorte wrote to mention a news.com article detailing the impending contact of the "Deep Impact" satellite with the Tempel 1 comet...at roughly 23,000 miles per hour. from the article: "We know that the crust--the outside shell of a comet and the stuff that comes off a comet--is changed by the solar wind...One of the things that we're curious about is, some people will tell you that comets actually produce organic compounds...We want to see if that's inside." Update: 07/02 22:08 GMT by Z : Updated with correct day.
Well, since this seems to be one of the first times we've gone out of our way to really put the wood to something not from Earth, let's hope Tempel 1 isn't some sort of cometary offspring whose mother will take offense and pulverize us.
Just a thought.
Hell yeah it's going to produce organic compounds! 10 bucks says the Heavens Gate Gang is riding shotgun in that badboy.
http://www.cnn.com/US/9803/25/heavens.gate/
"Simplify, simplify, simplify!" Thoreau
It starts the first intergalactic war.
I really hope that they decontaminate this before it ever comes back... Viruses are some of the simplest life forms, so it is more likely that there would be a virus than a humanoid alien... Who knows what havoc this could wreak.
In all seriousness, hopefully this will give us a window into the creation of the universe, or maybe just the solar system.
I have sort of an obsession with astronomy... I think my parents always thought my telescope was for peeping on the neighbor- "honest mom, the vaseline is for greasing the telescope....
And All I Ask is a Tall Ship And a Star to Steer Her By
Given the failed Mars projects, who wants to place bets that this plan to intentionally crash the probe will result in a safe "three-point" landing?
This seems scripted...
Village idiot in some extremely smart villages.
>> roughly 23,000 miles per hour
It's NASA we're talking about here folks. The smart money says they ruin the experiment by only smashing into the comet at 23,000 kilometers an hour.
Good day, gentlemen. As you are no doubt aware, I have perfected a device capable of altering the orbital path of comets. First of all, I must offer kudos on a most inspired cover story...'scientific experiment' indeed...really, a first rate piece of propagan-da. Of course, you know it cannot last...
You see, gentlemen, things will only get worse...my device, which I've dubbed 'the Cometrix', will continue destablizing our solar systems' comets' orbits, drawing them ever closer to our fragile planet. First, our natural satellite will get hit, affecting coastal regions with high tidal waves... then it will be our planet's turn, with explosions occurring on a global scale. No place on the planet will be safe...civilization as you know it will cease to exist...that is... unless you pay me...
One hundred billion kajillion fafillion dollaaars!!!
<DramaticMusic>
Gentlemen, you have my demands...peace out.
Government scientists say the price tag is worth it. "One, we'll learn about comets," said NASA's Wessen. "Two, we'll learn about how that applies to the Earth, whether it brought organic material to the Earth...We can even learn, if a comet was coming our way, what it would take to deflect one of those things."
"Three, we get to blow sh*t up, YEEE HAAAAA"
The comment has already been made. Let's move it along people. Nothing to see here.
it's legal to do this?
it's like throw a bomb over a national park to see if there are some fossils!
where is Green Peace?!
Yes. Solar wind is caused by eating solar Mexican food.
Mmmm.... organic compounds....
And if the comet people get mad, followed by The Tempel of Doom.
One line blog. I hear that they're called Twitters now.