*Live Thread* -- 7/3/05 NASA "Deep Impact" Comet

NASA / Space.com ^ | 7-3-05 | Buzz Aldrin

[FreedomNeocon]

All times are Eastern U.S. time

July 3, Sunday
7 a.m. – 10 a.m. - Deep Impact Pre-Impact Live Interviews - JPL (One-Way Media Interviews)
2 p.m. – 3 p.m. – Deep Impact Pre-Impact Update - JPL(Update on separation and navigation)
4 p.m. – Deep Impact Pre-Impact Update - HQ (Replay)
7 p.m. – Deep Impact Pre-Impact Update - HQ (Replay)
11:30 p.m. – 3:30 a.m. (July 4) – Deep Impact Commentary (Expected time of impact: 1:52 a.m.)

July 4, Monday
4 a.m. – 5 a.m. – Deep Impact Post-Impact Press
Conference - JPL (Interactive Media Briefing)
7 a.m. – 10 a.m. – Deep Impact Live Interviews - JPL (One-Way Media Interviews)
11 a.m. – Deep Impact Post-Impact Press Conference - HQ (Replay)
2 p.m. – 3 p.m. – Deep Impact Post-Impact Press Conference - JPL (Interactive Media Briefing)
4 p.m. – 7 p.m. - Deep Impact Post-Impact Live Interviews - JPL (One-Way Media Interviews)
7 p.m. – Deep Impact Post-Impact Press Conference - HQ (Replay)

(Expected time of impact: 1:52 a.m.)
Video can be streamed from here if you do not get NASA TV

[FreedomNeocon]

Impactor Away: Deep Impact Probe En Route to Comet
By Anthony Duignan-Cabrera
SPACE.com Managing Editor
posted: 3 July 2005
2:45 a.m. ET


This story was updated at 3:58 a.m. EDT.

PASADENA -- The Deep Impact mission is now less than 24-hours and 500,000 miles from its final destination after the spacecraft’s Impactor probe successfully separated from its Flyby mothership early Sunday morning.

The $333 million mission is slated to crash an 820-pound (371-kilogram) Impactor probe into Comet Tempel 1 and record the event via the Flyby mothership. The collision is expected to take place at 1:52 a.m. EDT (0552 GMT) on July 4. A cheer went up at 2:16 a.m. EDT (0616 GMT) when a mission controller announced when Deep Impact's mission control received confirmation that the Impactor had separated from the Flyby mothership at 2:07 a.m. EDT (0606 GMT).

"It went like clockwork. Very good, we’re very excited.” Deep Impact project manager Rick Grammier, of NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL) here, told reporters. “The systems were all nominal and we were within half a kilometer of our target point before release and the release went very well."

Researchers hope NASA’s Deep Impact mission will not just succeed in ramming a comet, but will punch through Tempel 1’s surface and reveal material that has not been seen since the formation of the solar system 4.6 billion years ago. They hope Deep Impact will not only yield information about the composition of comets, but also shed light on the make-up of the early solar system.

"The first look at the data indicates that things couldn’t have gone better," said Monte Henderson, program manager for Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., the builders of NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, via e-mail.

Following separation, Flyby completed its divert engine burn and moved safely out of the comet’s path. After the initial separation, an alarm went off onboard the Flyby vehicle. Mission controllers ran through a systems check and concluded the spacecraft was on track and the alarm could be ignored.

Grammier said that Flyby did manage to capture and image of Impactor after the release.

"We didn’t know if we would quite get that or not, so that was a good thing," Grammier said.

"We have been working on this program for five-and-a-half years, yet the major milestones are still ahead of us," Henderson said earlier Saturday evening, prior to the release.

In recent weeks, Comet Tempel 1 has surprised mission managers with a series of outbursts, the result of the comet’s ever-closer proximity to the sun. The first outburst was observed on June 14. A second outburst occurred on June 22 and was photographed by the Hubble Space Telescope.

"We did not expect to see it," Henderson said. "Our science team is really excited about what they are finding."

The outbursts—sprays of water vapor and carbon dioxide—are a result of portions of a comet’s icy crust heating up under the sun’s light. According to Henderson, Tempel 1’s outburst is at the moment, a singular, predictable event. The comet completes one rotation on its axis every 42 hours, with one outburst per rotation.

Henderson described the outbursts as fog-like, dispersing over the surface of the comet, not an explosive plume that could adversely affect the Impactor’s ability to pinpoint the brightest spot on the comet’s surface. The team is not concerned that the outburst will interfere with the impact. The last outburst is expected to occur four hours prior to the collision said Henderson, and because of the outbursts diffuse orientation, it disperses after about 30 minutes.

"I think we are seeing it at it’s most active," Henderson said.

Today’s successful spacecraft separation is just the opening act for the Deep Impact mission. The real fireworks begin tomorrow, when Impactor begins its end-run toward Tempel 1 while Flyby, and a myriad of orbital and ground-based telescopes, look on.

A pre-impact press conference is currently set for 2:00 p.m. (1800 GMT) on July 3. NASA TV will provide live commentary of Deep Impact’s arrival and expected impact with Comet Tempel 1 beginning at 11:30 p.m. EDT (0330 July 4 GMT).

You can follow Deep Impact’s comet crash live via SPACE.com’s mission commentary available here.

[lunarbicep]

bttm

[FreedomNeocon]

2:20 a.m. EDT July 3, 2005

A cheer rose up at 2:16 a.m. EDT (0616 GMT) when a mission controller announced: "We have lock in the S-band receiver." That means Deep Impact's mission control has received confirmation that the Impactor successfully separated from the Flyby mothership as planned at 2:07 a.m. EDT (0607 GMT), and that Flyby is serving as a relay to ground control.

After the initial separation, a fault alarm went off onboard Deep Impact's Flyby vehicle. Mission controllers ran through a systems check and concluded the spacecraft was on track and the alarm could be ignored.

Click here for SPACE.com managing editor Anthony Duignan-Cabrera's report on Impactor's release from Deep Impact mission control at JPL.



1:21 a.m. EDT July 3, 2005

"The impactor is officially on its own power," came the announcement and a cheer went up in the newsroom here at JPL.

Though still attached to its Flyby mothership, the Impactor probe went on internal battery power at 1:15 a.m. EDT (0515 GMT). Flyby adjusted itself to the proper Impactor separation angle and is on schedule for separation, which is expected at 2:07 a.m. EDT (0607 GMT).



11:20 p.m. EDT July 2, 2005

"We are now in the end game," Monte Henderson, program manager for Ball Aerospace and Technologies Corp., the builders of NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, told a group of reporters here at the space agency’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, California.

Henderson's announcement followed a successful trajectory maneuver of the spacecraft earlier Saturday evening at about 8:00 p.m. EDT.

The Deep Impact team is expected to receive verification that the mission's Flyby mothership released its 820-pound (371-kilogram) Impactor probe at about 2:07 a.m. EDT (0607 GMT) July 3, placing the small craft directly in the path of Comet Tempel 1. The copper-tipped collider is expected to slam into Tempel 1 on July 4 at 1:52 a.m. EDT (0552 GMT) and open a window into the comet’s composition and history.

The mission is going well, and only a minor adjustment was made on the spacecraft's trajectory, Henderson said.

"It was a very minor 3.15 meters per second burn," Henderson said. "A very minor update to get it in line with the comet."

Mission managers, however, decided to delay the activation of the Impactor's battery until 1:10 a.m. EDT, almost one-hour prior to spacecraft separation. The decision was made to ensure the battery remained at peak power. So far, Impactor has been powered by the Flyby mothership.

"Everything that we haven't tested before today is a risk," Henderson said.

Should the battery fail to perform, mission managers have a 14-hour built-in period to pinpoint the problem and hopefully correct it. This will not interfere with the Impactor's collision time window with the comet Tempel 1, Henderson said.

“We have been working on this program for five-and-a-half years, yet the major milestones are still ahead of us,” Henderson said

[Peach]

Ping

[OXENinFLA]

Ping.....

[ElkGroveDan]

They should have done like they do in cheap movies and sacrificed some piece-of-junk-car.

I know many people would pay the big bucks to watch a 74 Vega impact a speeding comet at 23,000 miles per hour.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

I'm a little skeptical of the wisdom of disturbing this thing, since its natural orbit is within the solar system. Changing its mass might alter the balance/harmonics of the system. I'd rather they picked one that was just passing by, rather than a resident. In my own grand scheme of things, I often thought of the solar system as a large manifestation of an atom/electron/molecule/compound, whichever.

[advance_copy]

A Vegamatic going head-on with a Comet... sounds like the crash scene from a cheap 1970s cop movie, or worse, something out of one of those horrible driver's ed movies.

[Cold Heart]

How about "In a Yugo, in a Yugo.....

[Lokibob]

Cosmic ping.

[Lokibob]

actually, that should have been a cosmic bump.

[RazzPutin]

Let's see if these predictions are more accurate than NASA's.

http://www.thunderbolts.info/tpod/2005/arch05/00current.htm

[Trimegistus]

In the News/Activism forum, on a thread titled *Live Thread* -- 7/3/05 NASA "Deep Impact" Comet, Vn_survivor_67-68 wrote:

"I'm a little skeptical of the wisdom of disturbing this thing, since its natural orbit is within the solar system. Changing its mass might alter the balance/harmonics of the system. I'd rather they picked one that was just passing by, rather than a resident. In my own grand scheme of things, I often thought of the solar system as a large manifestation of an atom/electron/molecule/compound, whichever."

The probe is a few tens of kilograms. The comet is many millions of tons. Do the flippin' math. This will "disturb" the comet about as much as a bullet would disturb a supertanker.

[fatima]

Thanks FreedomNeocon,Bump to save my spot.

[cripplecreek]

"This will "disturb" the comet about as much as a bullet would disturb a supertanker."

Even less than that I believe. I think the earthquake that caused the Indonesian tsunami caused a greater disturbance in the earths orbit than Deep Impact will to to the comet.

[mountn man]

Vega's make great drag cars (dragster). As opposed to an AMC Pacer or Gremlin which makes a great drag behind car.
Heck why waste even a bad American car. Any french car would be worthy of destruction.

[Vn_survivor_67-68]

"Do the flippin' math."

I guess you know everything......including the mass of all chunks that might separate.

[leadpenny]

Do the flippin' math.

Just get out of bed?

[mountn man]

The probe is a few tens of kilograms. The comet is many millions of tons. Do the flippin' math. This will "disturb" the comet about as much as a bullet would disturb a supertanker.

Some NASA geek forgut to figure in some mass+trajectory+(velocity squared) computation thingy. The impact will cause a .0063% deviation in current trajectory, causing it to impact Earth on July 3rd 2009.

Oh yeah. This HUGH

and SERIES

Oh yeah one more thing

ITS ALL BUSH'S FAULT