NASA's Deep Impact project

Is the Deep Impact project a legit deal or a cover for a comet impact on the earth? The launch is tomorrow and a intercept on July 4 time line. Are there hidden motives for this project?

[edit on 1/11/2005 by surfkat157]

i'm not familiar with this deep impact project you're referring too. can ya give me some more info on this!


angie

They say it is to observe dust and ice particles on the comet surface but who really knows!!!! Impact crater size on the comet varies from 10m to 150 meters!!

ok so nasa is launching a probe tomm??? to go and measure impact craters on a comet that the probe will intercept in july?? is that what you're saying???


if it is............i'm just wondering WHY nasa would spend millions of $$ to measure impact craters on a comet?? whatever impacted the comet would long be destroyed so what significance does this hold???

to ME that's the idiotic thing here...the huge waste of $$$..........

maybe i'm not getting it.............did i understand you correctly??

angie

Move along nothing to see here . The deep impact probe has a twofold purpose. 1. Determine the composition of the comit through intrusmentation and 2. Fire a projectile to "see what happens" and to see if we can change the orbital path of this sucker. Now before you go and say, "They could direct it to earth!" its very far away. about 0.7 AU away which is quite far actually. Now there is a tiny chance that we could direct it into Earths path but I'm sure they will take measures to minimize the possibility to infinitesimle.

Originally posted by sardion2000
The deep impact probe has a twofold purpose. 1. Determine the composition of the comit through intrusmentation and 2. Fire a projectile to "see what happens" and to see if we can change the orbital path of this sucker.

ooooo so you're saying like an armageddon type scenario(reffering to the movie) to see if that scenario is truly possible???

well NOW that you drew me a clear picture.:rollsorry i'm still on my first cup of coffee this morning) i can see that would be of interest.

okay............i get it.

DUHHHHHH

angie

Check out this link for more information

www.space.com...

What's deep inside a comet

Comets are time capsules that hold clues about the formation and evolution of the solar system. They are composed of ice, gas and dust, primitive debris from the solar system's distant and coldest regions that formed 4.5 billion years ago. Deep Impact, a NASA Discovery Mission, is the first space mission to probe beneath the surface of a comet and reveal the secrets of its interior.

Image above Artist's concept of Deep Impact.
Image credit: NASA

On July 4, 2005, the Deep Impact spacecraft arrives at Comet Tempel 1 to impact it with a 370-kg (~820-lbs) mass. On impact, the crater produced is expected to range in size from that of a house to that of a football stadium, and two to fourteen stories deep. Ice and dust debris is ejected from the crater revealing fresh material beneath. Sunlight reflecting off the ejected material provides a dramatic brightening that fades slowly as the debris dissipates into space or falls back onto the comet. Images from cameras and a spectrometer are sent to Earth covering the approach, the impact and its aftermath. The effects of the collision with the comet will also be observable from certain locations on Earth and in some cases with smaller telescopes. The data is analyzed and combined with that of other NASA and international comet missions. Results from these missions will lead to a better understanding of both the solar system's formation and implications of comets colliding with Earth.

The Mission

The Deep Impact mission lasts six years from start to finish. Planning and design for the mission took place from November 1999 through May 2001. The mission team is proceeding with the building and testing of the two-part spacecraft. The larger "flyby" spacecraft carries a smaller "impactor" spacecraft to Tempel 1 and releases it into the comet's path for a planned collision.

In December 2004, a Delta II rocket launches the combined Deep Impact spacecraft which leaves Earth's orbit and is directed toward the comet. The combined spacecraft approaches Tempel 1 and collects images of the comet before the impact. In early July 2005, 24 hours before impact, the flyby spacecraft points high-precision tracking telescopes at the comet and releases the impactor on a course to hit the comet's sunlit side.

The impactor is a battery-powered spacecraft that operates independently of the flyby spacecraft for just one day. It is called a "smart" impactor because, after its release, it takes over its own navigation and maneuvers into the path of the comet. A camera on the impactor captures and relays images of the comet's nucleus just seconds before collision. The impact is not forceful enough to make an appreciable change in the comet's orbital path around the Sun.

After release of the impactor, the flyby spacecraft maneuvers to a new path that, at closest approach passes 500 km (300 miles) from the comet. The flyby spacecraft observes and records the impact, the ejected material blasted from the crater, and the structure and composition of the crater's interior. After its shields protect it from the comet’s dust tail passing overhead, the flyby spacecraft turns to look at the comet again. The flyby spacecraft takes additional data from the other side of the nucleus and observes changes in the comet's activity. While the flyby spacecraft and impactor do their jobs, professional and amateur astronomers at both large and small telescopes on Earth observe the impact and its aftermath, and results are broadcast over the Internet.

Comet Tempel 1

Comet Tempel 1 was discovered in 1867 by Ernst Tempel. The comet has made many passages through the inner solar system orbiting the Sun every 5.5 years. This makes Tempel 1 a good target to study evolutionary change in the mantle, or upper crust. Comets are visible for two reasons. First, dust driven from a comet's nucleus reflects sunlight as it travels through space. Second, certain gases in the comet's coma, stimulated by the Sun, give off light like a fluorescent bulb. Over time, a comet may become less active or even dormant. Scientists are eager to learn whether comets exhaust their supply of gas and dust to space or seal it into their interiors. They would also like to learn about the structure of a comet's interior and how it is different from its surface. The controlled cratering experiment of this mission provides answers to these questions.

The knowledge gained would be great if that is what the mission is really about!!! Only 6 months to intercept, that comet is close. Hidden agenda, possible yes!!!! Imagin the shear panic if the Gov. made this announcement: "Temple 1 due to impact earth in 14 months, KYAGB" Still a good science mission.

Originally posted by surfkat157

The knowledge gained would be great if that is what the mission is really about!!! Only 6 months to intercept, that comet is close. Hidden agenda, possible yes!!!! Imagin the shear panic if the Gov. made this announcement: "Temple 1 due to impact earth in 14 months, KYAGB" Still a good science mission.

Well, there's no way that this comet in particular is going to hit the earth. One could imagine, though, that the DI mission is being sent towards another target that is inbound.

I have no doubt that the real mission is as it is stated... however, my guess is that nasa also sees this as practice for the day when we really will have to shoot at an inbound comet or asteroid.

I seriously doubt whether a washing machine sized object travelling at 500kph would alter the trajectory of something as big as a comet....Have there been any sources that predict such alterations??..IMHO its purely to see what the inside of the comet is and the easiet way to do it is to pound the thing so that the internal crossection of layers, which can be read like a histroy log, are displayed for all to see..the impact crater is said to be about the size of a football field...
Also any sampling and retrival of comet rock planned??

Originally posted by Daedalus3
I seriously doubt whether a washing machine sized object travelling at 500kph would alter the trajectory of something as big as a comet....Have there been any sources that predict such alterations??..IMHO its purely to see what the inside of the comet is and the easiet way to do it is to pound the thing so that the internal crossection of layers, which can be read like a histroy log, are displayed for all to see..the impact crater is said to be about the size of a football field...
Also any sampling and retrival of comet rock planned??

yeah it will alter it, nothing really to stop it as there is no friction(or very little) in space, so its definate that we will change its orbit by some degree. To what is what some scientists are hoping to find out. Most others are just interested in the crater it'll leave behind, as it could be more usfull in determining the composition

A thermal nuclear devise with a let's say 30 MT yield would effect the orbit some. Would this be enough????? It is worth finding out!!!!