The goal: to damage "Temple" 1 but leave him alive
By James Meek Guardian
Figure: NASA: Simulation of the spacecraft launching the projectile towards the comet.
The explosion, scheduled for July 4, 2005, will be broadcast on television and on the Internet
This event may be recorded in the annals of history as the act of vandalism
The earliest directed cosmic, one of the first steps of the species
the human to prevent its own extinction, or - as the scientists modestly hope
Those involved in it - a useful "explosive" experiment in the vastness of outer space.
Be that as it may, Operation Deep Impact, now approved by NASA,
will differ from all previous space projects in the extent of the damage planned in it
For a celestial object - a comet known as Tempel 1
Scientists will shoot a 350 kg projectile into the heart of the comet as it passes between
Earth to Mars and thus cause the formation of a seven-deep crater
floors and 100 meters wide. The explosion, which will be broadcast on television and online
The Internet through cameras that will be placed on the mother ship, is planned to take place
on July 4, 2005 if you take into account that the sale price is estimated at 280
A million dollars, after all this is the most expensive fireworks show since then
And never (this is the Independence Day of the USA).
A camera will be placed on the "bullet" itself, which will record its last moments while it is still there
Thrown at the comet at a speed of 10 km per second.
The goal of the scientists is to examine the interior of a comet for the first time using
Examining the sides of the crater and the pieces that were thrown out as a result of the impact;
Astronomers' best guess is that the comet's nucleus
Consists of a cocktail of ice, frozen alcohol and methane, with a few rocks
and dust
But they cannot be sure that a crater will indeed form. Comet Temple
1, which was discovered in 1967 and completes its orbit around the sun every five and a half years, is
Has a diameter of one km in total. The bullet may pass through or explode
same for parts
Great.
"I wouldn't be at all surprised if it shatters into several large pieces - they are comets
Very fragile," said Dr. Duncan Steele, a comet expert at the university
Salford, Greater Manchester, England. "Every year we come across several
comets that disintegrate". Such a scenario would not endanger the planet at all, he added
Steele, "The particles will still orbit the comet, which is out of orbit
Earth".
About 40,000 tons of space debris fall to earth every year and destroy it
of a small comet nearby may double this amount. according to
Steele, NASA was wise to choose a comet far enough from a sphere
the country to avoid the problem. "The chances that we will be hurt by a large part are in fact
Zeros. We have far worse things to worry about, like all of them
Asteroids we have not yet discovered."
Steele rejected any moral or aesthetic arguments that might be raised
Defenders of the environment in space - a body that has not yet been officially organized, Vs
Creating holes in bodies in the solar system. "From the moment we landed on the moon
And we took the first step on it, it could be argued that we contaminated the
The moon," he said, "a lot of these magical thoughts are pretty ridiculous."
The "Deep Impact" spacecraft will be launched into space in January 2004 and will orbit the sun
About a year before it leaves its orbit to intercept comet 'Temple' on July 1
2005 it will release the cylindrical projectile towards the comet's orbit and then
Move away to watch the collision from a safe distance.
The American scientists involved in the operation say that they came up with the name
"Deep Impact" long before the writers of the 1998 film of the same name.
In the film, astronomers discover a comet on a collision course with a sphere
Country; A manned spacecraft is sent towards it to place nuclear launchers
and destroy it or divert it from its course before it destroys humanity.
NASA's "Deep Impact" is not an experiment for such a real emergency,
But the information gained will ultimately be useful if and when a system is established in space
for the protection of the earth.
NASA recently landed a space probe on a small peanut-shaped asteroid
His name is Eros, and in 2011 the European Space Agency intends to try
and land the unmanned spacecraft "Rosetta" on the surface of another comet. s a l e
"Deep Impact" will go further than these two missions by deflecting a comet
from its orbit or will smash it.
According to information, there is a one in a thousand chance of an asteroid or comet
One kilometer wide will hit the earth in the next hundred years. in years
In the nineties, NASA planned a mission called "Clementine-2 mother ship".
that you carry three bells 1.5 meters long each and these will be launched inside
Three asteroids at a speed of 10 km per second. The purpose of the mission was
check the technology involved in its execution. But in 1997 the missile
President Bill Clinton vetoed the plan. According to him then, this is a project
Too aggressive, a relic of the "Star Wars" era, which may worry that it isn't
For the purpose of the Russians and the Chinese.
