The teams in charge of Deep Impact are preparing for Impact as Tempel-1 and the probe get closer and closer. The comet collision should happen on the July 4th for some spectacular firework.
NASA and many other space researchers want to know exactly what on the inside of the comet and the Deep Impact may just give it to them.
This cosmic slam dance in the mosh pit of our solar system could produce some incredibly photography. But it may not. This whole project could be a bust because the comet only moves about 23.000 miles an hour.
As the probe closes in on the comet, which is about half the size of Manhattan Island, NY., the probe will separate into two distinct parts. One part, the impactor, heads for the comet, being steered by an autonomous, navigational computer. It will attempt to slam itself into the comet.
The Deep Impact portion will hang back a fair distance and shoot pictures and hope to survive long enough to get the information back to NASA. They’re figuring about 13 minutes.
Over the next 22 hours, Deep Impact navigators and mission members located more than 133 million kilometers (83 million miles) away at JPL, will steer both spacecraft and impactor toward the comet. The impactor will head into the comet and the flyby craft will pass approximately 500 kilometers (310 miles) below.
“The time of comet encounter is near and the major mission milestones are getting closer and closer together,” said Rick Grammier, Deep Impact project manager at NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif. “After all the years of design, training and simulations, we are where we want to be. The flight and science teams are working the mission plan, and we are good to go for encounter.”
NASA has already started getting some analyses on the comet. They’ve picked up the composition of the dust surrounding the flying ball or rock and ice and whatever else the probe finds. Those molecules include carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, water and hydrocarbons. It sounds suspiciously like much of what’s here on earth.
So, let’s put in perspective. NASA is trying to crash something the size of your washing machine into a giant rock the size of Manhattan moving at 23,000 miles an hour while taking pictures with some a craft the size of Volkswagen Beetle which will be destroyed in about the time it takes someone to get their first coffee break in the morning. This is so cool. And if we get pictures, even better.
NASA also says this little experiment will pose no threat to earth as they initially compared this too a small insect hitting someone. Chances are you don’t even notice it.
John Stith is a staff writer for murdok covering technology and business.
