NASA Firing Missile at Commet? Can This Be This Good?

Hi,

I have been away for a little while. So, if there is already another thread that has been started on this subject, I appologize. If this is the case, please direct me to it, and close this one. Otherwise...........

I don't know too much about the doings of NASA, etc... however, when I heard talk of them planning on firing a missile at a commet 83 million miles away, and having apparently no idea what to expect, I felt very uncomfortable. Somehow, there is something about the idea of man messing with such things as parts of our universe, and maybe not this time, or maybe somewhere down the road this time could have a major effect on our galaxy and beyond.

I can understand the reasoning that NASA is claiming for doing such a thing. That they want to better understand our environment. I am all for asking questions, trying to learn as much as possible about what is around me, my loved ones, etc. How it affects us and our lives, and how it may affect our future.

However, there just seems to be something inherently wrong about man messing with unknown objects that are a part of our universe, that could possibly, irrevocably alter the course of nature forever. There is one thing about venturing into space to look, study and maybe touch what is out there. But it seems as if it is entirely another to go blowing up part of our galaxy, our universe with a man-made missile. It just does not seem right.

Apparently NASA is pretty proud of themselves. Just before midnight on July 3, 2005, the managed to strike the commet with their missile, just where they had wanted to. And I suppose that a piece of it is on it's way back, if it's not already here for them to study. They say that everything is O.K. that the meteor was never going to hit the earth, and it still is not. So, according to them, no harm done. Although, I heard that the thing is still spewing out "stuff", that it wasn't before it was so rudely struck by a missile. That doesn't sound good to me, however, apparently NASA is quite proud of it. Whatever that means.

Anyway, suppose that this little experiment caused no real harm, nor did it do anything significant to alter the course of the Universe. What is to stop over-zeleous scientiest, astronomers, etc.. from going too far, and really doing some serious, irrevokeable damage to our solar system? Just where should and will the line be drawn?

Is there anyone else worried about this? I feel as if I am the only one concerned. If I am alone in being concerned, well, that's O.K., but, I just wondered what anyone else thinks about this.........?

//ed title//

[edit on 7/8/2005 by CyberKat]

That was funny. OMG is there a line to be drawn. NO such line exists. The impact of a star exploding and creating a black hole is billions of times greater than that of a missile striking a comet. lol

This should be in the paranormal section.

Like the story with the Russian woman suing NASA over the astrological impact it would have. Astrological in terms of horoscope and future predictions.

What is it that makes man so different from the rest of the universe?

Well firstly, it was not a missle, but just an object that impacted into the surface. A missle usually has an explosive warhead that will help damage whatever it's taget is. This impactor did not have any such thing. The explosion was only cause by the speed and which it was traveling at (5km/s).

I don't think there is any cause for alarm. Our Galaxy is huge and the Universe even larger. Creating a crater on the surface of a comet isn't going to affect anything in our Galaxy. It would have to be something pretty astronomical to affect it. Stars that go supernova do not have an effect on the Galaxy as a whole. This comet is nothing more than a pebble in a vast ocean. Causing it a bit of damage to it isn't going to harm anything.

I think it's great that they did this. Knowing the composition of the comet, learing about it's structure and all that. I believe this could also help us in the future by giving us a better idea of how to destroy a comet, if one is ever hearding towards Earth.

I think it will be quite a while till we have the capability to harm our solar system. And I can't imagine scientists and astronomers wanting to destroy our solar system either. Creating a small crater on the surface of a comet is a pretty minor thing (in contrast to the size of our solar system).

Originally posted by Frosty
What is it that makes man so different from the rest of the universe?

Strangely, although this comment seems on the surface to be just as...well, as the others, you bring a very good point.

Man is just as much a part of the universe as the rest of the universe. Something I had not thought of. Interesting......

Originally posted by jra
I think it's great that they did this. Knowing the composition of the comet, learing about it's structure and all that. I believe this could also help us in the future by giving us a better idea of how to destroy a comet, if one is ever hearding towards Earth.

Yeah, I also believe this is why NASA carried out this experiment. First of all targeting a moving object 80 million miles away from Earth is no small feat. Using another moving object to launch a projectile (which in the dictionary is also described as a missile) that is to strike the other is amazing.

They are making more overt efforts than our European friends at defeating NEOs (near earth objects) that pose a threat to us.

Also this russian lady that claims that this affects her horoscope is laughable. If it means a better chance at man kinds survival, then who cares about a horoscope?

I wouldnt be surprised if another test is conducted with an actual warhead against one of these. Even a slightest deflection in such an object could save the planet.

Who is to say where the line should be drawn? Who is to say IF a line should be drawn? There is no line! There is no governing authority currently in place to define this! But lets just say that there is a line here, somewhere.

We have just made an object impact a large, floating ball of ice and a lil bot of rock. How is that different from someone's head impacting a snowball?

We put a crater in a comet. We have NOT blown up the moon or mars, or anything else. I find it difficult to imagine that a sensible being such as yourself (CyberKat) has such trouble with a crater in a comet.

if nasa hits a comet and and moves its path 1inch of cource I think its
possible threw a long time and distance it could put it on course with
a planet maybe with life on it. mabe that life cant stop it so thay all die.
does this sound plosible?

NASA said that deep impact, the object that hit the comet is like a fly hitting a airplane window.

but some russia woman don't think so, she is sueing NASA 311 million dollars.

Thanks for your input, all very different and interesting aspects to think about. Anymore input is welcome.

Again, thanks guys (BTW), I'm not the most educated on the subject, which is why I posed the question. But, I still catch the sarcasm in some. That's O.K. the more input on anything and everything, the more I learn (with the exception of the over-re-hashed moon hoax/non-hoax).

CyberKat

Originally posted by slayerfan
if nasa hits a comet and and moves its path 1inch of cource I think its
possible threw a long time and distance it could put it on course with
a planet maybe with life on it. mabe that life cant stop it so thay all die.
does this sound plosible?

No, it's not. Unless it were to hit a planet in our own solar system that is.

Comets come every so many years because of one simple thing. They orbit around our sun just like we orbit around our sun. Comets have a longer period because they are moving considerably faster than our planet is, and because of this they have a much longer eliptical orbit (they fly in close to the sun, and then whip back out for their 20-200 year journey far away from the sun).

If you wanted to alter the course of a comet to make is actually leave orbit around the sun, I think (I am not positive on this, and I'm sure there is somebody else here on ATS who could answer this accurately) you would have to apply enough force to the object to change it's velocity in the new direction so it as travelling in the new direction to the tune of 30,000-40,000mph. (Escape velocity at Pluto, the Sun's gravity: 6.7 km/s or 3600km per hour, this mean Pluto has to be constantly moving at almost 3600kmh in order to not fall into the Sun, pluto's average orbital speed is 4.7km/s [it's faster when it's closer to the Sun and slower when it's further out]).

The probe (Deep Impact) that impacted with Tempel 1 would have applied far less force to the comet than an average space shuttle mission applies to the earth during re-entry.

What I and others are finding strange is NASA's quietness since the first report of the succesful impact?

There is speculation the main core just underneath the surface of the comet is haredened materials and NOT ice..

Dallas

Originally posted by Dallas

What I and others are finding strange is NASA's quietness since the first report of the succesful impact?

There is speculation the main core just underneath the surface of the comet is haredened materials and NOT ice..

Dallas

No, the media is busy covering the terror in London, A Hurricane, Iraq, and other more pressing things. Im sure they are giving updates, its just that no one cares right now.

No, the comet impact silence came to light a few days after impact. meaning a few days before the attack on London. And before the storm.

Dallas

Anyone who has seen the movie with Bruce Willis leading a ragtag bunch of miners who save the world by destroying a meteor, can understand the purpose of Deep Impact. We are significantly closer than you might think to an Armageddon scenario:

nssdc.gsfc.nasa.gov...

When I found this list I was at the same time relieved (that someone out there was actually looking for these things) and concerned, that there actually have been some asteroids that have come even as close as the moon is to Earth. Anything less than that would be a concern. I suppose even if it hit the Moon it would affect us in some way.


The only thing that has been bothering me about Deep Impact:

www.nasa.gov...

is the fact that they could potentially have fragmented the thing into chunks that could impact Earth in some future orbit, or even deviated it from an orbit that might swing back around at some date. In theory this is not possible within some reasonable amount of time, but it seemed sort of like a dumb idea originally. NASA's missions are usually penned as being "scientific" and this didn't strike me as discovering anything substantially new. However, it was a success, and we've had alot of failures recently so that is good.

You might also find this list interesting:

www.nasa.gov...


Karmically speaking, there are these seemingly coincidental events that occur. Are they coincidental? One begins to wonder how trends in solar sunspot cycles affect our energies. If you are curious, something I was thinking about but haven't had time to carry out yet is to look at the sunsport cycle records and compare to times in our world when there have been major wars. It's curious that the Tsunami happened after the Iraq situation. Even though we have global warming we still have had major ice storms in recent winters. Nature always reminds us that she is more powerful than we are ...

Originally posted by Dallas

What I and others are finding strange is NASA's quietness since the first report of the succesful impact?

There is speculation the main core just underneath the surface of the comet is haredened materials and NOT ice..

Dallas

You know, you're right. I hadn't noticed really, until I read your post. But I don't usually personally pay all that much attention to what NASA is up to, not unless they are making a big deal about it on TV, the Internet, etc.....

So, they were making a big deal right up to the moment they anounced what a big success it was, etc... then just like you say.......silence. And they struck it late night July 3rd, it was before the London Bombings and the Hurricane.

Hhmmmmmm........

Well after losing my job in the market crash, the day I planned to return back east from Oregon was on 9/11 ... and after having my funding canceled in my degree program the last day I had to decide about the summer status was the day the London attack happened ...

nasa cant make things worse than bush. maby what ever they do will make good for all mankind................................somewhere...................................................... oneday

Originally posted by grad_student
is the fact that they could potentially have fragmented the thing into chunks that could impact Earth in some future orbit, or even deviated it from an orbit that might swing back around at some date. In theory this is not possible within some reasonable amount of time, but it seemed sort of like a dumb idea originally. NASA's missions are usually penned as being "scientific" and this didn't strike me as discovering anything substantially new. However, it was a success, and we've had alot of failures recently so that is good.

Think about that for a second... a city sized hunk of ice getting smacked by a table sized hunk of metal...
No, there was about a 1:100000000000 chance it could have fragmented the comet, altered it's trajectory, or have done anything at all to influence it. Maybe, maaaaaaybe it could have punched a hole into a massive gas pocket and that gasious outburst could have pushed it around a bit. Otherwise, this was equivalent to shooting a BB gun at a pickup truck. The owner might get pissed off (or in this case, dumb Russian women) but nothing else could have happened.

And we are learning quite a bit from this mission. By studying the ejected matter, we are literally examining a timecapsule from the creation of our Solar System. Whenever we do anything outside our own planetary bubble, we learn something new, and the knowledge gained is invaluable. Always.

This guy Hoagland will be on CtoC next week to give his understanding as to why NASA went quiet after impact.

Though for many years I have little if any respect for the man perhaps this will be his chance to redeem his thoughts in a much more respected manner?

Dallas