Bush's NASA Stunt! Blow up Comet for 4th of July Fireworks / USPower Show

[KoKo]

The nation will be glued to watch this explosion all day. Tuning out of Iraq...a signal that we can blow up anything any damned time we want.

This is a rant because any "scientific" value this has could have been planned for a less spectacular display on any date other than July 4th.

Another "Fly Boy" stunt, to me...shameful..:puke:

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Fireworks Likely When NASA Blows Up Comet

By ALICIA CHANG, AP Science WriterSun Jun 26, 9:40 PM ET

Not all dazzling fireworks displays will be on Earth this Independence Day. NASA hopes to shoot off its own celestial sparks in an audacious mission that will blast a stadium-sized hole in a comet half the size of Manhattan. It would give astronomers their first peek at the inside of one of these heavenly bodies.

If all goes as planned, the Deep Impact spacecraft will release a wine barrel-sized probe on a suicide journey, hurtling toward the comet Tempel 1 — about 80 million miles away from Earth at the time of impact.

"It's a bullet trying to hit a second bullet with a third bullet in the right place at the right time," said Rick Grammier, project manager at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena.

Scientists hope the July 4 collision will gouge a crater in the comet's surface large enough to reveal its pristine core and perhaps yield cosmic clues to the origin of the solar system.

NASA's fleet of space-based observatories — including the Hubble, Spitzer and Chandra telescopes — along with an army of ground-based telescopes around the world are expected to record the impact and resulting crater.

The big question is: What kind of fireworks can sky-gazers expect to see from Earth?

Scientists do not know yet. But if the probe hits the bull's-eye, the impact could temporarily light up the comet as much as 40 times brighter than normal, possibly making it visible to the naked eye in parts of the Western Hemisphere.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20050627/ap_on_sc/comet_buster;_ylt=AmHy7qwrOeW_JnEdake9MAtI2ocA;_ylu=X3oDMTBiMW04NW9mBHNlYwMlJVRPUCUl

[ComerPerro]

1. Why doesn't Bush just ask God to take care of it?

After all, he and God are close friends, I hear...

[Moochy]

33. Feed the World

Maybe there's Mana in them there comets?

If we crack it open then we can feed the world !!


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mana

[chelsea0011]

2. Well, I happen to be fascinated by these unmanned missions of late

[SaveElmer]

3. Well first of all...

They are not blowing up the comet. A projectile will impact it simulating a hit the comet might experience with debris in space.

Second, the point is to eject material for study within the comet, and to see how a comet reacts to this kind of impact.

It's a neat mission which could yield alot of info on the origin of the solar system

It will barely be visible to the naked eye if at all.

[KoKo]

4. And the timing was just accidental?

:eyes:

[SaveElmer]

7. Well...

There is not alot of leeway in these missions. I don;t know if it was planned this way from the beginning, but once the probe was launched, physics takes over. I really doubt Bush had anything to do with it. He is probably too stupid to understand what they are doing.

NASA may possibly have planned it this way to get more public attention to the mission...which is ok with me!!

[KoKo]

12. "the physics takes over..." Maybe Bush believes God has planned

the impact date for July 4th and he told Rove to make sure that the story was written by the MSM to include "possibility of July 4th Fireworks." Just to make sure that CNN has Lou Dobbs covering it all day. And maybe Falwell will be on tap for Faux.

[Moochy]

20. Rove has a way to hack AP / UPI man

Dude!! Rove's got read write access to our brains man...
He's all powerful!! He's the man behind the curtain!!!

Please stop the Rove worship, and go buy some fireworks. :)

Careful though the sparklers are weapons of mass destruction!

[bullimiami]

5. probably knock the thing off its orbit and cause the destruction of life

on the earth.

[acmejack]

6. More info

NASA Mission page:
http://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/deepimpact/main/index.html?msource=07505&tr=y&auid=885181


Good space info
http://www.spaceref.com/news/viewpr.html?pid=15669

[Fridays Child]

8. Now, hold on just a doggone minute! This sounds like science!

This is not something a Christian nation should be doing. We blow up abortion clinics and Saracens--not rocks in outer space. Besides, we already know how the universe began. It's all written down in Genesis.

:evilgrin:

[Beetwasher]

9. I Can't Help Wonder If They Are Actually Trying To Alter It's Trajectory

I watch too many sci-fi movies. You know if it was on a collision course w/ earth, they wouldn't tell us anyway and they would do something like this, so, you never know. Although I suspect it would be hard to keep under wraps if it was heading towards earth because other astronomers (even amateur one's) would probably be able to compute it's trajectory. :shrug:

[JHB]

14. It WILL alter its trajectory...

...that's an inevitable result of the collision and ejection of materials. It's just a matter of degree (which is apparently not much).

If it were on a collision course, they wouldn't handle it like this, not under Bushco -- they'd never miss a chance to play up the danger in order to justify handing out fat no-bid contracts and to paint yet another halo on * when it succeeds (or grab absolute power if it fails).

[Beetwasher]

16. Oh, Yeah, No Doubt, I'm Just Wondering if that's Actually the PRIMARY

Mission. Maybe sort of a test run, just in case? Like I said, too much sci fi! :evilgrin:

[drencrom]

34. no problem

The object will, indeed, have its course altered very slightly by the impact - it's the laws of physics, don't you know. But the mass and acceleration of the projectile don't add up to a hill of beans, interplanetarily-speaking. Any sci-fi junkie should know F = ma!

[LongTomH]

24. Would you guys get serious!

The Deep Impact probe is much too small to affect the orbit of a comet-sized object by more than a miniscule amount. Astronomers won't see any measurable change in the comet's orbit.

Kinetic energy impactors have been proposed as a way of altering a comet or asteroid's course, if that object in on a collision course with Earth. However,they will have to be both larger and faster to have any measurable affect.

[patcox2]

10. Launched 6 months ago, date determined by orbital mechanics.

Really, they probably could not have made this happen on the day of their choice if they wanted to. Launch windows, weather, course corrections. The decision about when to launch to make an orbital intercept with a moving object probably had more to do with the orbits and such than anything else.

In other word, take off the tinfoil.

[KoKo]

15. Then why are they announcing it for July 4th? I think you missed my

point. How the hell do they know it's going to achieve it's target on July 4th and whether it will be visible or not, yet read the article and it's written as being definite. Since there's a chance it wont be successful and may not contact exactly on July 4th then why write about it with such specificity.

It's the coverage in this article not my :tinfoilhat: on too tight. :D

[JHB]

17. It's not tinfoil...

Apollo 11 was originally supposed to land on July 4, but assorted delays pushed it back two and a half weeks.

Yes, there are constraints due to physics and technical matters, but don't underestimate the PR guys at NASA.

[Goldmund]

26. That's completely different

The Moon is in stable orbit around Earth and always at approximately the same distance. It doesn't make much physicial difference when your landing date is. In addition, the gravitational system of Earth/Moon is also pretty static.

A comet is in a super-fast elliptical orbit around the Sun and hitting it involves all sorts of conditions, including the relative positions of other large bodies (like, planets) which affect inter-planetary gravitational space.

[proiowadem]

11. 4th of July is a true patriots holiday.

Don't let the anger at bush shadow love of country. I will be celebrating this 4th of July because I LOVE THIS COUNTRY. Bush for all his evil and incompitance will never make me hate America or her holidays. If we do that then the terrorists (i.e. BUSHCO) will win.

[KoKo]

19. Excuse me?....one of those "questioning" my patriotism posts?

"Don't let the anger at bush shadow love of country."

And where in my posts did I say I hate America or her holidays? You misquote me and question my patriotism?

[Moochy]

25. Contrarian view

Nationalism is a poison.

[Kraklen]

13. This is hardly new.

They timed a rendezvous for the comet Eros on Valetines day. The martian rover of several years ago also landed on July 4th.

They can time it for any day of the year, but they've got to do it years in advance. The idea, I assume, is to make as much publicity as possible. Apparently Americans only care about science when national pride is involved. Given all the horrible and massive science cuts at NASA, I don't mind a little showmanship.

I hope you're not suggesting that this is supposed to be a media distraction. Because that would be ridiculous.

[Moochy]

18. LOL funny stuff

Not to sound dismissive, but you are dismissed.

It's real science. :thumbsup:

And to think, I'm usually the one with the reynolds wrap chapeau!! :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat: :tinfoilhat:

:eyes:

[KoKo]

22. yes...indeedy, it's real science...but it's being timed for a US holiday..

as July 4th and that it was planned 6 months ago is what's questionable as stunt-like.

I stand by what I said. It will be used not to glorify science but to connect to Bush. When science is timed to celebrate national holidays of the country involved it then takes on the purpose of "glorification" of the country rather than the impartiality of the "quest for knowledge."

I'm one of those who believes the "old school" philosophy that science shouldn't be used for political purposes. Unlike the Bush's who believe everything is to be used for their advantage. :shrug:

[Kraklen]

23. They did the same thing for the moon landing.

The only reason that happened was because it was a matter of national pride. So the choice with expensive space science is either pimp it out, or don't do it at all.

[KoKo]

29. Exactly and when the Russians launched Sputnik it got our butt's in gear

to devote the necessary money to try to compete. But, then we did at least get to an "era of cooperation" in space. And, that was good. With Bush I have a feeling he wants to use space exploration as "competition" once again, thereby ending that era of cooperation.

That's why I saw this as having overtones of a stunt in that the media will be able to glorify it as a Bush effort when it should be seen as a scientific effort increase for our understanding of how our solar system was formed.

I understand what you say about "pimping" but also understand why I might find that I thought we'd gotten beyond having to "pimp." :shrug: But with this "pimp in chief" in the White House who runs the Media Whores can we expect honest coverage of this event or will it be used.

This article may have been written by someone honestly trying to get attention to the scientific mission. But, I don't trust our MSM Cables not to abuse the event in some way. It's more my cynicism than cluelessness about the value of space exploration, btw. I think folks here have misinterpreted my Tabloid Type post but given the Tabloid time we live in I thought it was worth questioning.

[Moochy]

32. Totally worth questioning

:) I see your point about the pimping and being able to move beyond it, I sadly think that both parties will be pimping NASA out for political gain, our next democratic president will also do this.

However, I agree that the media will likely cynically call our next democratic president out on the mat when she or he announces the next probe or mission to mars etc.

I'll never underestimate the quislings in the press corps ability to pimp any news as good news for Bush.

cheers!

[Moochy]

30. Timing is everything

I agree with you that the timing is a stunt. NASA has always been amenable to stunts, like the moon mission :) for political gain.

I'm just suggesting we try to avoid ascribing political malice to every move this administration makes, as it seems a bit pathological. (no offense meant here, just I see alot of us, myself included in the past, falling into this kind of "Rove is behind this" mentality.)

I hear your concern about the use of science for political purposes. Especially given the Bush admin's tendency to change report outcomes.
Just today there was a new report that smelled of whiteout.

And, I totally agree with your negative assesment of glorificaion of the country as opposed to science. See my post about nationalism being a poison. :)

I guess I just could imagine NASA officials going along with this, or even being amenable to the rescheduling, if it helped bump up their budget next year.

... And besides there could be valuable prizes inside!!

[drencrom]

35. NASA funding

NASA likes to have these things, so in order to make a big splash and get more funding. July 4th, everyone's at home, the TV's on anyway...why not watch that big kaboom?

Like most things the government does...follow the money. That's the reason for pretty much everything they do.

[Goldmund]

21. LOL I don't think so

This is only going to be "spectacular" to astronomy nerds such as myself. The best case scenario is that this is going to be a little blob in the sky that you'll be able to kinda see if you're away from city lights and if you don't look at it directly but use corner vision instead.

[Eugene]

27. Viking I was originally scheduled to land on Mars July 4, 1976

Scheduling for Independence Day is nothing new.

[ReverendDeuce]

28. Reminds me of a Mr. Show bit from '97 or so...

Where NASA decided to blow up the moon (can't remember if it were a July 4th thing or not). Nonetheless, it was great. Everybody was excited about it... and there was a country singer doing an upbeat music video in front of a huge waving flag... I believe the lyrics went like so:

Look out, Moon, America's gonna get ya!
Gonna go KA-BOOM! It was nice to have met ya!
Cuz you don't mess around...
With God's America!

Hillarious bit. I believe it's on their DVD... but I am not sure what season it would be.

[aeolian]

31. *sigh* ...it HAPPENS to be July 4. That's when the satellite rendezvous

with the comet.

Bush does not command the fucking comets, ok? And how many people, excluding 1969, have ever been glued to the TV for a NASA satellite mission? :eyes:

[johnaries]

36. He STILL won't find any WMD's.

:evilgrin:

[paparush]

37. Bush** Changing the Comet's Orbit...

Bush Holds Planet Hostage via Impending ELE (Extinction Level Event)

Comet will now impact earth.

Bush and Cheney to rule from a Secure, Non-Disclosed Location.

Blame to be leveled at Liberal, Secular-Humanists, and non-Kool Aid drinkers.

Checklist to Prevent Comet Destruction:
*China must sign treaty to switch entire infrastructure over to US-grown corn oil.

*All fags, atheists, cripples, Gypsies, and blue-state intellectuals must sign Loyalty Oaths or become Life Members at Abu Grayab.

*Bush** receives lifelong appointment as Supreme Commander.

[KoKo]

38. Kick. Because when I make an offensive post I like to own up to my

transgressions! :D...but I also liked the discussion and the DU'ers who replied...so I'll give it a KICK. There may be more than myself who find this an interesting issue. And, love the replies of our DU "Solar Watchers."

A shameless kick.