whats going on with nasa and a asteroid?

[@irboss]

I saw on the news this morning that they are launching something to hit a asteroid tonight or tomorow in the am, it will be visible in the west coast, could it be that this is a threat to earth and they just wont say so that people wont panic. or is it just a test. anyone have any info?

 

[@irboss]

http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/media/deepimpact-070205.html

Deep Impact Status Report

07.03.05

One hundred and seventy-one days into its 172-day journey to comet Tempel 1, NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft successfully released its impactor at 11:07 p.m. Saturday, Pacific Daylight Time (2:07 a.m. Sunday, Eastern Daylight Time).

At release, the impactor was about 880,000 kilometers (547,000 miles) away from its quarry. The separation of flyby spacecraft and the washing-machine-sized, copper-fortified impactor is one in a series of important mission milestones that will cap off with a planned encounter with the comet at 10:52 p.m. Sunday, PDT (1:52 a.m. on July 4, EDT).

 

[A1FlyBoy]

http://www.nasa.gov/externalflash/deepimpact_front/index.html

 

[@irboss]

maybe will all die tonight........ ... kjhdlkuhaglguhasladfwr

 

[wrxpilot]

maybe will all die tonight........ ...

I thought we were all supposed to die from the 2012 asteroid? Or maybe it was the peak oil doom? I can't keep track of all these doomsday things anymore - we're screwed!!

 

[@irboss]

Yep I knew of that 2012 ast. also but I dont get it why they just now in the last moment talk about this new comet, why they didnt say something before, at least I never heard nothing till now.

 

[wrxpilot]

Yep I knew of that 2012 ast. also but I dont get it why they just now in the last moment talk about this new comet, why they didnt say something before, at least I never heard nothing till now.

I heard about it a few months ago in Aviation Week. I think this it the deep strike mission where they are basically hammering into the comet (or asteroid) with a satellite. Initially there were some concerns about the asteroid shattering and threatening Earth, but the Nasa engineers determined this was not a possibility. A fairly interesting mission actually, I wish I could recall the details better.

I hear the Mayan calendar also ends in 2012.

 

[Stepclimb]

I heard about it a few months ago in Aviation Week. I think this it the deep strike mission where they are basically hammering into the comet (or asteroid) with a satellite. Initially there were some concerns about the asteroid shattering and threatening Earth, but the Nasa engineers determined this was not a possibility. A fairly interesting mission actually, I wish I could recall the details better.

I hear the Mayan calendar also ends in 2012.

Tempel 1 is a comet about the size of Manhattan, and its orbit is pretty far from Earth's.
By impacting a probe into the comet's surface and filming the result, we can discern whether the comet is a sort of soft 'snow cone' or a harder 'ice cube'. Since comets are thought to be made of the basic ingredients of the universe, scientists can make better guesses as to the origins of the universe.

 

[Brett Hull]

Initially there were some concerns about the asteroid shattering and threatening Earth, but the Nasa engineers determined this was not a possibility.

And NASA engineers have *never* made a mistake before.

 

[TurboS7]

In about 3.0 hours this comet is going to explode into a gazillion pieces might be something to stay up for.

 

[EagleRJ]

The comet probably weighs several million tons, and the impactor is around 300 pounds. Despite the fact that it's going to hit at 23,000 MPH, its in no danger of destroying the comet. It will be blasting a cloud of ice cubes off the comet, so we can determine what its consistancy is like, and what elements are present. It should make the comet much brighter in the sky if a lot of ice and particles are blasted off the surface.

This is hardly a rehearsal for destroying a comet inbound to Earth. Destroying a comet or pushing it off course would require Nukes- a lot of them!

 

[YourNameHere]

Watch it live on NASA TV...

http://www.nasa.gov/multimedia/nasatv/index.html

 

[TurboS7]

Couldn't sleep so thought I might as well stay up 40 more minutes and see if the world ends. I will let you know if it looks bad.

 

[Metro752]

one minute. omg!

 

[Metro752]

20 seconds!

 

[Metro752]

12km to go!

 

[Metro752]

20 seconds to impact, revised on NASA TV!

 

[Metro752]

Our brave little spacecraft is in a very hostile little enviroment here." - Gay NASA Announcer.

BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM

Thats one big dead bug!

 

[Metro752]

Seeing a room full of older men and young interns screaming and howling is rathewr frightening.


-- Now just wait, some alien will come to us, and demand reperations for destroying a piece of space or something. Haha.

Time fer bedddd.\


talk about a good fourth of july firework!

take that evil doers.

AMERICA, F* YEAH!

 

[EuroWheenie]

Saw a science buff on the box yesterday explaining that the effect of the probe hitting the asteroid would be akin to a small bird impacting the leading edge of a widebody wing; might dent it a tad but won't bring it out of course

The purpose of this experiment is to eject material from the core of the asteroid, which the mother space craft can then analyze. The theory is that the nucleous of the asteriod should contain material from back when the universe was formed som 14 billion odd years ago. In other words, a study into how the universe was formed.

That's the official version anyway. There is a growing feeling in France that GWB got nucleous and nuclear mixed up, coupled with a theory that the asteroid is indeed under the control of Al-Qaeda. It may also contain vast quantities of oil