Crashing into comets tax $ hard at work

[I-WISH-A-MF-WOULD]

Give me a break

[SwoleCat]

Ooooooooooooookay.

~SC~

[abstrack]

yeah buddy!

[63190]

I know what he's talking about. NASA spent bazillions of dollars to crash a satellite into a passing commet just to learn what was in it. It was hit or miss, but they got lucky and hit.
I was wondering, what if they had inadvertantly knocked the commet off course? How do they know they won't change the tragectory of said commet and make it crash into some thing important.

[punchrf]

i think they said the comet was roughly half the size of new york. that could have done some damage. did they find anything cool on the comet or did it just put a hole?

[needmorestrength]

I know what he's talking about. NASA spent bazillions of dollars to crash a satellite into a passing commet just to learn what was in it. It was hit or miss, but they got lucky and hit.
I was wondering, what if they had inadvertantly knocked the commet off course? How do they know they won't change the tragectory of said commet and make it crash into some thing important.

lol I thought the same thing

[Tock]

Well, the thing they hit was about half the size of Manhatten, and they hit it with the force of about a 2-1/2 bomb. Naturally, the comet's orbit will be affected somewhat, but probably about as much as if you hit an 18 wheeler with a baseball.

In addition to learning about the composition of the comet (lots of interesting stuff to be found there), they also learned some stuff about what it would take to defend the planet from something like that that might collide with our humble planet.

$333 million? Ya, I'd say it's worth it. They spend that much in Iraq in a couple days. And the info gleaned from the project just might save the planet someday.

-Tock

[robkesl]

i thought it was kinda cool, but im a supporter of space junk,

[63190]

I just want to meet up with some hot Klingon babes.