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DEEP IMPACT: NASA set to create it's own fireworks

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S

Saurus

Member
Phoenix

Phoenix

Member
Considering that they are trying to discover the composition of the asteroid, and that the subsequent path of the asteroid could change radically after the impact, is this approach really the smartest idea?
 
L

Laguna X

Nintendogs Member
Phoenix said:
Considering that they are trying to discover the composition of the asteroid, and that the subsequent path of the asteroid could change radically after the impact, is this approach really the smartest idea?
Click to expand...
From what I understand, there is no chance in the Earth being put into harm's way as a result of this mission.
 
T

The Shadow

Member
Phoenix said:
Considering that they are trying to discover the composition of the asteroid, and that the subsequent path of the asteroid could change radically after the impact, is this approach really the smartest idea?
Click to expand...

Use some common sense. Have you "radically" altered the path of a train by throwing a coin at it? The comet is more than 8 miles long. The impactor weighs less than half a ton.
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Member
The Shadow said:
Use some common sense. Have you "radically" altered the path of a train by throwing a coin at it? The comet is more than 8 miles long. The impactor weighs less than half a ton.
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Problem one - we don't know the composition of the asteroid. If its nice and light, we could break off pieces of it. Don't assume because its big that its nice and solid. The entire purpose of this is to determine what's in it.
 
F

fallout

Member
Forget all that. I'm just pissed off that I won't be able to see this through my university's nice (well, sorta nice) telescopes.

::shakes fist at his geographical location::
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Member
Laguna X said:
From what I understand, there is no chance in the Earth being put into harm's way as a result of this mission.
Click to expand...


Not really concerned about the Earth direct impact scenario - just kinda a bad idea to just go around blowing stuff into pieces without knowing what the effects could be. Kinda the same mentality we had behind our nuclear testing back in the 40s and 50s. "Let's just blow up some of these things... and lets build plans to blow up some mountains too" :)
 
T

The Shadow

Member
Phoenix said:
Problem one - we don't know the composition of the asteroid. If its nice and light, we could break off pieces of it. Don't assume because its big that its nice and solid. The entire purpose of this is to determine what's in it.
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It's quite possible not one of the many people who worked on the project thought of such a small and trivial thing. Perhaps you should give NASA a call.
 
D

DarthWoo

I'm glad Grandpa porked a Chinese Muslim
The Shadow said:
It's quite possible not one of the many people who worked on the project thought of such a small and trivial thing. Perhaps you should give NASA a call.
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Well, to be fair, that has been the case in many instances. Take one case where not one person thought of the small and trivial detail that different groups working on the same project might be using different systems of measurement, resulting in a multi-million dollar probe crashing into Mars and a total loss of the mission.
 
F

Forgotten_Taco

Member
DarthWoo said:
Well, to be fair, that has been the case in many instances. Take one case where not one person thought of the small and trivial detail that different groups working on the same project might be using different systems of measurement, resulting in a multi-million dollar probe crashing into Mars and a total loss of the mission.
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Ahhhhh, NASA, you card.
 
T

The Shadow

Member
DarthWoo said:
Well, to be fair, that has been the case in many instances. Take one case where not one person thought of the small and trivial detail that different groups working on the same project might be using different systems of measurement, resulting in a multi-million dollar probe crashing into Mars and a total loss of the mission.
Click to expand...

Granted, but that a was a programming error and could be broken down to the oversight of far fewer people than the two entire organizations working on that particular probe.

With Temple 1, we're talking about something that's been observed and things like density and mass aren't going to be completely unknown.

Maybe it's just me but these "doomed" scenarios people are coming up with for Deep Impact seem stupid and more to the point, irritating.
 
T

trilobyte

Member
Laguna X said:
From what I understand, there is no chance in the Earth being put into harm's way as a result of this mission.
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But it then twitches it into a collision course with an alien race's planet. They blow it up, get pissed at us, and come to conquor us all.
 
A

andthebeatgoeson

Junior Member
This is what they interrupted the ending of A Few Good Men for? Fuckers couldn't wait til the morning? I know it's 2 am but shit, Jack just said, 'You can't handle the truth!' and they cut away for 5 minutes of nothingness, geeks jumping up and down and bad pics that show nothing.
 
S

Saurus

Member
Confirmation
http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/images/Confirmation.jpg
Confirmation.jpg
 
ManaByte

ManaByte

Member
Phoenix said:
Considering that they are trying to discover the composition of the asteroid, and that the subsequent path of the asteroid could change radically after the impact, is this approach really the smartest idea?
Click to expand...

Firstly, it's a comet and not an asteroid. Secondly, it's 83 million miles from Earth headed away from the planet.
 
G

Ghost

Chili Con Carnage!
OH NO! Look at the light! I think we just zinged god himself!


Prepare for holy retribution in 5..4..3..
 
O

Ollie Pooch

In a perfect world, we'd all be homersexual
Red Scarlet said:
What if it's a BOOMERCOMET?
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It pauses - In MID AIR mind you - makes a left turn, and lands on Newman's left thigh. THAT is one magic comet!
 
H

heavenly

Member
Why was the rock glowing for so long? Wasn't the probe suppose to be just a "coin thrown at a train' so to speak? Is it possible that they (nasa) used nuclear elements?

And can anyone verify that a nasa scientist commented at a post conference that they needed to know if they could change the course of a comet incase one was on a collision course with the Earth? If so, then doesn't this contradict their initial goal, which was to study the origins of the solar system?
 
M

maharg

idspispopd
heavenly said:
Why was the rock glowing for so long? Wasn't the probe suppose to be just a "coin thrown at a train' so to speak? Is it possible that they (nasa) used nuclear elements?

And can anyone verify that a nasa scientist commented at a post conference that they needed to know if they could change the course of a comet incase one was on a collision course with the Earth? If so, then doesn't this contradict their initial goal, which was to study the origins of the solar system?
Click to expand...

Don't you know that all US research projects have to have a National Security bent to get government funding now?
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Member
The Shadow said:
Maybe it's just me but these "doomed" scenarios people are coming up with for Deep Impact seem stupid and more to the point, irritating.
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If anyone created a "doomed" scenario - it was you. The idea of breaking up cellestial bodies to study their composition seems fundamentally stupid to me.
 
H

heavenly

Member
Phoenix said:
If anyone created a "doomed" scenario - it was you. The idea of breaking up cellestial bodies to study their composition seems fundamentally stupid to me.
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Well, that's what they're saying...
 
P

pestul

Member
How many fucking children in Africa could they have fed/saved... nevermind, it's not worth bitching over anymore. :/
 
H

heavenly

Member
pestul said:
How many fucking children in Africa could they have fed/saved... nevermind, it's not worth bitching over anymore. :/
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Africa? What about America? Our economy is going down the drain and we shoot some overly expensive, bomb-laden washer machine in the sky to see if the Big Bang Theory is really...gasp...not a theory?
 
M

maharg

idspispopd
Jesus fucking christ do we need to go through this retarded line of thinking again? NASA gets $16billion for a budget and international aid gets $13 billion. They're on the same level of the budget. You want to look for places they could divert money to starving children in africa, look at the military.
 
T

Tunesmith

formerly "chigiri"
How many of you here, in addition to me, had your name recorded on that little disc being sent with the impact craft onto that comet? :)
 
F

fallout

Member
But massive military defense spending is just fine, right? At least the scientific community is attempting to further human knowledge.

EDIT: Why do I bother posting when Graham's around? Heh.
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Member
maharg said:
Jesus fucking christ do we need to go through this retarded line of thinking again? NASA gets $16billion for a budget and international aid gets $13 billion. They're on the same level of the budget. You want to look for places they could divert money to starving children in africa, look at the military.
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Damn straight. The projects that the military has cancelled ALONE are more than the budgets for NASA and what we budget for international aid.
 
M

Macam

Banned
pestul said:
How many fucking children in Africa could they have fed/saved... nevermind, it's not worth bitching over anymore. :/
Click to expand...

Stop. If money alone could've saved Africa, it would've been done twenty years ago. Saving Africa isn't as simple at throwing money at the problem, and much as people love to bring up saving African children as the noble cause of the moment, few people give the situation the amount of thought and dedication it deserves if people want to really "save" Africa.
 
F

fallout

Member
To expand upon what Macam said, even throwing food at them won't solve the problem. It'll certainly help, but money and food once used, are gone forever. They require infrastructure, education/training, etc. to prosper. That's not an easy task.
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Phoenix: *sigh* Assuming the comet is spherical...

((~4 miles)^3) times 3.14159265 times (4 / 3) = ~1.11741691 × 10^12 m^3

Density of Earth's Atmosphere at Sea Level = ~1.29 kg/m^3

Mass of the comet if it was gaseous = ~1,440,000,000,000 kilograms

Impact device = ~453 kilograms

The comet would have ~3.18 × 10^9 times its mass if it were air.

Mass of a median-sized modern train = 68,000 kilograms

Mass of average coin = 0.0025 kilograms

The train only has 2.72 x 10^7 more mass than a coin.



Furthermore, I hope you realize that the total mass of celestial objects can be calculated without knowing what's inside. So while we're talking about fundamentally stupid...
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Member
Hitokage said:
Phoenix: *sigh* Assuming the asteroid is spherical...

((~4 miles)^3) times 3.14159265 times (4 / 3) = ~1.11741691 × 10^12 m^3

Density of Earth's Atmosphere at Sea Level = ~1.29 kg/m^3

Mass of the asteroid if it was gaseous = ~1,440,000,000,000 kilograms

Impact device = ~453 kilograms

The Asteroid would have ~3.18 × 10^9 times its mass if it were air.

Mass of a median-sized modern train = 68,000 kilograms

Mass of average coin = 0.0025 kilograms

The train only has 2.72 x 10^7 more mass than a coin.



Furthermore, I hope you realize that the total mass of celestial objects can be calculated without knowing what's inside. So while we're talking about fundamentally stupid...
Click to expand...

I have no idea what you're talking about because you haven't responded to anything I've posted.
 
T

The Shadow

Member
Phoenix said:
I have no idea what you're talking about because you haven't responded to anything I've posted.
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Uh...it's no that hard to figure out what he's talking about. He's saying it's silly to think that the impactor would alter the path of the comet in any significant way, or that NASA is completely clueless as to the mass of the comet.



Speaking of dense....geez.
 
S

sprsk

force push the doodoo rock
heavenly said:
Africa? What about America? Our economy is going down the drain and we shoot some overly expensive, bomb-laden washer machine in the sky to see if the Big Bang Theory is really...gasp...not a theory?
Click to expand...

-_-
 
O

Operations

Member
A Russian astrologer sued NASA because the comet crash altered her horoscope. She's demanding 300 million. :lol

"It is obvious that elements of the comet's orbit, and correspondingly the ephemeris, will change after the explosion, which interferes with my astrology work and distorts my horoscope," Izvestia newspaper quoted astrologist Marina Bai as saying in legal documents submitted before today's collision.
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:lol

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,10117,15821163-13762,00.html
 
Phoenix

Phoenix

Member
The Shadow said:
Uh...it's no that hard to figure out what he's talking about. He's saying it's silly to think that the impactor would alter the path of the comet in any significant way, or that NASA is completely clueless as to the mass of the comet.



Speaking of dense....geez.
Click to expand...


Dude, learn reading comp or just shut up.
 
H

Hitokage

Setec Astronomer
Phoenix said:
Dude, learn reading comp or just shut up.
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By the same token, I suggest you learn a little astronomy and physics or just shut up. The Shadow had it right on the money.

Even if we did break the comet into pieces you won't be putting enough energy to make the seperate pieces diverge far at all. The overwhelming momentum of the comet as a whole won't just go away. Smaller fragments and dust, sure they'll fly every which way... but not anything of significant size.
 
U

UltraMarioMan

Member
I'm waiting for a Flying Saucer to show up one day and drop all the stuff we've sent to mars on the White House lawn with a note asking us to stop sending our junk there.
 
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