Deep Impact Probe.

I just saw this on cnn. Kinda scares me for some reason lol I hope they know what they are doing.

www.cnn.com...

It will be interesting if they can actually hit it.

"We're going to hit it and see what happens," said astronomer Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland at a briefing outside Washington.

311mil spent for this. Sounds like kids playing with fireworks lol

Yea,
Can you imagine the look on their faces when all 311mil goes whizzing by on a miss of only six inches...

311,000,000 one dollar bills spent on this:


Honestly, lets look at this thing as a ATS community. Is this thing even worth 311million dollars?

We're going to hit it and see what happens," said astronomer Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland at a briefing outside Washington.

Only NASA. Back when we were kids we would pour shampoo on insects and 'see what happened'. But it didnt cost 311million dollars. We would put firecrackers in 2-litter sprite bottles and 'see what happened'. But it didnt cost 311million dollars. Do you get my drift here?

I mean these guys are trained scientist, some of the best in the world. And they spent 311million on a 820 pound industrial microwave to 'see what happens'.

$311,000,000 will buy third-world countries by the handfull. But we spent it on a robotic crash test dummy.

Is it expensive...Yes, is it worth it...Yes

You cant make major discoveries in space with out spending millions.

Its actually 2 probes, they will detach in space an on will speed up while the other stays farther behind and when one smacks into the Comet the other will take pictures of it and see what happens. There is a LOT of different outcomes, its if light enough this probe dould change its course, it its solid and very heavy it will be like a midget punching a giant. Not to mention that we will get some amazing comet pictures.

I'm all for this project. (keep up the good work Nasa)

Every space probe is sent to "see what happens"

Questions usually get answered, but "what happens"
is more questions get asked..So we have to send another.

It's all about learning the nature, of nature.
It's also worth EVERY penny.

Why can't they just make a decent probe and "land" on it instead. If they miss, they are screwed. Also what would happen if the comet had a snow covered iron core, the probe would probably get damaged quite a bit.

Finding out their composition is important.
After all it's propable that somewhere in space there's comet with Earth's name on it. (althought it might take hundreds, thousands or million years to "find" that one)

Originally posted by VirusClock
Also what would happen if the comet had a snow covered iron core, the probe would probably get damaged quite a bit.

VirusClock... looks like you didn't even read that article.

Impactor will hit with speed of 10 km/s and on impact moment it acts like asteroid hitting earth: kinetic energy explodes it which should cause about football stadium sized crater.
Impactor is designed to explode crater to comet so they can observe its inner parts/what it looks under the surface. Also it shows well how hard material is.

[edit on 25-11-2004 by E_T]

I'm wondering if this is really just a practice run to see if they can knock one off course. It will be well worth seeing what happens on July 4 05 .

Originally posted by JoeTex
I'm wondering if this is really just a practice run to see if they can knock one off course. It will be well worth seeing what happens on July 4 05 .

I agree, NASA could learn a lot more by landing on the thing instead of just ramming it. The stadium sized crater it will make, is just a scratch to this thing given it's overall size.

As for the 311 million dollars, Uncle Sam has always had a spending problem ( more the contractors greed ). Robotic/satellite development IS expensive, but at least it won't be carrying one of those $500 toilet seat covers the DOD uses

Yes it's probably a test to see how much 10km/s projectile can alter the course of it, but its primary purpose is to discover the composisition of the comit so that maybe one day we'll be able to mine them, instead of destroying the Earth...

what ever happen to everyones enthausim about " truth and knowldge at all costs" arent we trying to deny ingnorance and by find out what comets are made of it will revela secrets on planet/solar system formation and foreever deny ingnorance in that area.

311 million is a small dent in the goverment pocket

[edit on 25-11-2004 by Mizar]

I agree with ya Mizar, I mean, 311 is a lot of money but its still worth every penny.

Nasa doesn't have any idea of what will happen when they collide, is could barely make a scratch on its iron like surface, or it could be spongy, aka:full of little holes through out it, so that when it hit it could make a huge dent or (which probably wont happen) go right threw it.

I first ever close up pic of a comet was from stardust, which basically collected tiny itty bity particles from its tail, but it got a good picture of a comet, and it looked more like an asteroid, it had tooken a serious beating though-out its life.

BTW, it wont miss.

[edit on 25-11-2004 by Murcielago]

I do agree with you, it is a small price to pay for knowledge.

I just think ramming it vs some other more scientific approach wouldn't reveal as much information about cosmic composition.
It just seems like this approach would simply reveal the most information when evaluated for impact alone.
Perhaps the impact test is the primary reason, and cosmic composition is just a fringe benefit.

Notme - You have to remember that its all done in baby steps.

Stardust - Deep Impact - Rosetta

Absolutely, thats the best way to learn. You are less likely to miss something important.
By that same line of thinking, wouldn't it be better to land on it

Baby Step:
drill core samples, analyze it, send back as much information as possible.

Big Step (drop kick it):
Ram it and take pictures, see what happens.

Just doesn't seem scientific to me.

I have to agree in that one. This could have been done in a better way but mabye a more costly way also. If we did the digging i bet we coul dfind ample logical reasons behind NASA's reason for that approach.

Originally posted by Simulacra

Honestly, lets look at this thing as a ATS community. Is this thing even worth 311million dollars?
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311 million is for the whole project right not just the probe? I mean just getting that thing into space cost alot of money something like $10,000 per pound to launch something into orbit.

Then you have to pay teams of people to run the project. Space is expensive.