NASA space probe to slam into comet July 4

[Up2Late]

(I hope they have a hell of a strong and sharp lens on the camera, because, spotting the impact crater will be like dropping a bomb on the softball field in Central Park, NY, blowing up the the infield, then tiring to see the crater from Portland, Maine.)

NASA space probe to slam into comet July 4

Thu Jun 9, 2005 03:43 PM ET

By Deborah Zabarenko

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - NASA's Deep Impact probe is scheduled to lob a big copper "bullet" into a comet on July 4 to look into the heart of this remnant from the formation of our solar system, scientists said on Thursday. Impact is expected at 1:52 a.m. EDT (0552 GMT) on U.S. Independence Day.

About a day before the collision, the Deep Impact craft will send a 317-pound (144 kg) copper-fortified impactor toward comet Tempel 1, which will be about 83 million miles from Earth. The impactor will steer itself toward the comet and the Deep Impact craft will pass about 310 miles away from it and watch the smash-up, the scientists said at a briefing.

Rick Grammier, the project manager for the mission, called this maneuver "extremely challenging." "It's a bullet trying to hit a second bullet with a third bullet, in the right place at the right time, watching the first two bullets and gathering the scientific data from that impact," Grammier said.

The Deep Impact mission is designed to offer a look under the surface of a comet, where material from the solar system's formation remains relatively unchanged. Astronomers do not know what kind of impact they will see when the impactor hits: the crater produced on the comet could range in size from a large house to the size of a football stadium. Either way, it will not appreciably change the comet's path.

(more at link above)