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NASA to send celestial hammer to break open comet
EARTHTimes.org ^ | 2004-12-20 | I. A. Harry

Posted on 12/23/2004 9:20:12 AM PST by Diamond

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To: snopercod

Excellent book. I love everything Niven has written.


41 posted on 12/23/2004 11:14:29 AM PST by Bloody Sam Roberts (All I ask from livin' is to have no chains on me. All I ask from dyin' is to go naturally.)
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To: TalBlack
...i'd be amazed if they didn't try to calculate the effect of their "celestial hammer". Did you mean that such a calculation is beyond mans ability?

Well, it depends upon what you mean by 'calculate'. I'm thinking it may be about like a kid calculating what the effect of the matches he's playing with is.

Cordially,

42 posted on 12/23/2004 11:14:41 AM PST by Diamond
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To: Diamond

I sure hope there are no spotted deep space owls on that comet or there will be hell to pay.


43 posted on 12/23/2004 11:20:18 AM PST by reagan_fanatic (Oh yeah - and F the french too!)
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To: Boiling point
...that's only about the weight of a big block car engine, and much less mass than say, an air liner crash, I don't think it will be very significant.

The opinions here vary, but if your're right and it's not significant then I think the next time they will just use a bigger bomb. In other words I think they wouldn't do it if it didn't have any effect.

Cordially,

44 posted on 12/23/2004 12:43:37 PM PST by Diamond
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To: Cboldt

The hammer will be vaporized, perhaps ionized immediately. The flash spectrum should show the atomic constitution of the hammer and some of the comet itself. We may discover commercial quantities of water and other minerals.


45 posted on 12/23/2004 12:48:46 PM PST by RightWhale (Destroy the dark; restore the light)
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To: Bloody Sam Roberts
I agree. The "survival" aspects of Lucifer's Hammer were spot-on and very thought-provoking.
46 posted on 12/23/2004 1:05:20 PM PST by snopercod (Bigger government means clinton won. Less freedom means Osama won. Get it?)
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To: Aeronaut
$330,000,000 hammer? Great! NASA beat out the Defense Dept. in the cost of hammers....astronomically.

Whatever happened to the concepts of miniaturization and probes? When the spectrum comes back showing "dirty ice", iron ore and H2O, will it be reported?

47 posted on 12/23/2004 6:11:45 PM PST by BIGLOOK (I once opposed keelhauling but have recently come to my senses.)
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To: newgeezer

NASA just wants to show us what we shouldn't do with money.

Just imagine a bank with 300 dollars of cash inside. NASA is going to send that bank into space and blow it up. It will appear as a small spark in the sky.

When America has 7.4 trillion dollars of debt, we should be using cheaper fireworks. Don't you think!?

If you are against wasting of money, then join CAGW (Citizens Against Government Waste): www.cagw.org.


48 posted on 01/15/2005 6:50:50 AM PST by blueberry12
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To: KevinDavis

for the ping?


49 posted on 06/16/2005 11:50:32 PM PDT by SunkenCiv (FR profiled updated Tuesday, May 10, 2005. Fewer graphics, faster loading.)
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