— Is this a good use of our money? Will it even work? Will it move the comet off-course and make it crash into the earth killing us all!?!? This mission is not only laughable but the agency should be ashamed of itself for naming it after a crummy movie “Deep Impact.” If this thing hits a flying comet in the middle of space with any accuracy it begs the question: why can’t they find Bin Laden?
CNN.com – Deep Impact on course for comet collision – Jan 12, 2005
CAPE CANAVERAL, Florida (AP) — A NASA spacecraft with a Hollywood name — Deep Impact — blasted off Wednesday on a mission to smash a hole in a comet and give scientists a glimpse of the frozen primordial ingredients of the solar system.
With a launch window only one second long, Deep Impact rocketed away at the designated moment on a six-month, 268-million-mile journey to Comet Tempel 1. It will be a one-way trip that NASA hopes will reach a cataclysmic end on the Fourth of July.
via K. Burel
Unlike Bin Laden, the comet is consciously trying to evade us.
At least it’s real science. What I consider laughable is the billions we want to spend sending humans to and back from Mars. Anything a human can do on Mars a robot could do a heck of a lot cheaper.
I personally do believe it is a good use of our money. I feel that we do need to spend some money on increasing our knowledge of the universe, and our space program is an excellent way to do this. And I believe it has a very good chance of working. We were able to send a probe to orbit an asteroid, so I feel this mission should be very smiliar to that one.
As an aside, I thoroughly enjoy your blog. Keep up the good work!
My understanding is that the launch window was several (a couple, anyway) weeks long – not one second. However, the July 4th impact date is no mere coincidence, I’m sure! Much can be learned from the oldest objects in our solar system. Perhaps it’s unfortunate that NASA has to “go Hollywood” to do so, perhaps not. The official line is that NASA and the movie team hit on the title at about the same time; who cares, really. If “Deep Impact” creates mission support, I’m for it. If “near real-time” video of the Impactor smacking Tempel 1 a good one ‘oopsyde de haid’ makes astronomy fans, hell, I’m all for that too. With proper in-vehicle video, done well, marketed properly, perhaps we can turn some NASCAR fans into NASA fans. One can imagine less apt expenditures of the research budget.
Do you know for sure they don’t know where UBL is…?
Quite honestly I don’t think it’s laughable, in fact I’m amazed at how many americans now find science ‘laughable’. There was once a time where the US seemed intent on broadening man’s knowledge of the universe, now apparently all that matters is what happens at home… That’s most unfortunate, as most civilizations throughout history perished when they stopped looking at the big picture and started just staring at their bellybuttons… Usama is a false problem, as you should know, it’s just your government that’s telling you it’s looking for the guy… If the US government seriously wanted to find him they would put more men in Afghanistan than Iraq. In fact Usama is quite useful to your government – while he’s on the loose, they have a good excuse to keep spending billions on ‘defense’, instead of, among many other useful things, science… Americans should be wiser…
I’m with ImaFish… this is a MUCH better use of our NASA budget than Bush’s crazy manned trip to Mars. I actually think it is kind of cool to take a shot at a comet!
You are so flip about this asteroid mission, I am curious, do you know anything about this type of science?
One thing I can’t stand worse is punditry based on emotion. If you could describe, presumably with your great expertise in space exploration and astonomical science, why this is laughable, we would all love to be enlightened.
I’ll be anxiously waiting.. Not.
I also find it “laughable” in the context of “the big picture”.
When I stare into my bellybutton, I see see:
1) the devastation caused in Asia, some of which would have been avoided if a warning system was in-place.
2) the news that some of the devastated areas are contested by the government and “rebels” – and that temporary truces will not last much longer.
3) news of Brad & Jennifer displacing human sufferring in far-too-many people’s limited attention spans.
4) and the lint goes on…
With all the myriad problems we share on this world, and no apparent consensus-of-will to address them, I find it amusing when so much energy and intelligence is expended on the search for knowledge in space, when it is the search for knowledge here on Earth that we are so desperately in need of.
That is the kind of science that would have a “Deep Impact”.
Of course – if the USA is funding it – it will have to be “abstinence-only”, and advise that Evolution is only a “theory”. 🙁
Topamax vivid dreams….
Topamax. Topamax side effects….