Posted on 07/04/2005 8:49:59 AM PDT by KevinDavis
PASADENA, Calif. - It sounded like science fiction NASA scientists used a space probe to chase down a speeding comet 83 million miles away and slammed it into the frozen ball of dirty ice and debris in a mission to learn how the solar system was formed.
The unmanned probe of the Deep Impact mission collided with Tempel 1, a pickle-shaped comet half the size of Manhattan, late Sunday as thousands of people across the country fixed their eyes to the southwestern sky for a glimpse.
The impact at 10:52 p.m. PDT was cause for celebration not only to scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory in Pasadena, but also for the more than 10,000 people camped out at Hawaii's Waikiki Beach to watch it on a giant movie screen.
"It's almost like one of those science fiction movies," said Steve Lin, a Honolulu physician.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...
Great photo of 29 Palms!
Impacts come from all directions, so the thinking goes, therefore the craters should show grazing shots.
Except that the reaction to an impact from any direction is a thermal event which creates a rounded crater. Probably exacerbated by the low-gee field.
why can't space exploration be privatized?
I found it interesting that Pennsylvania had the most signers of the declaration of independence with 9. Virginia with 7 was second, and God bless John Hancock from Massachusetts, who was the only signer from that state.
Can of worms, meet can-opener.
Partly because Governments tend to not respect the rights of private citizens. Right, Mrs. Kelo?
If the question is phrased correctly, perhaps we can get to the correct answer.
Like it or not, we will have to live with the State.
It is also referred to as a "Land Patent." In short, it recognizes the sovereignty of the land-holder, a recognition granted by governments. If such a concept were legal in the framework of the Outer Space Treaty, it could mean the Treaty need not be withdrawn from.
Of course, it would probably be easier to withdraw from the Treaty. And it would probably confer onto Corporations the kind of power that is described in countless Science Fiction stories.
Even a charter corporation would do. A lease. Anything. The investors expect some kind of paper.
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