Posted on 05/09/2003 1:18:20 PM PDT by HAL9000
If you've ever wanted your name on a comet, now's your chance.Pasadena's Jet Propulsion Laboratory and NASA plan to send a satellite to crash into a comet in 2005 and aboard the craft will be a CD with the names of perhaps thousands of Earthlings.
The names will be carried on board NASA's Deep Impact spacecraft, the first deep-space mission designed to collide with a comet. Mission scientists are confident an impact on the nucleus of a comet called Tempel 1 will answer basic questions about the nature and composition of these celestial wanderers.
"This is an opportunity to become part of an extraordinary space mission," says Don Yeomans, an astronomer at JPL and a member of Deep Impact's science team. "When the craft is launched in December 2004, yours and the names of your loved-ones can hitch along for the ride and be part of what may be the best space fireworks show in history."
Deep Impact's larger flyby spacecraft will carry a smaller impactor spacecraft to Tempel 1 for release into the comet's path for a planned collision. The flyby spacecraft will take pictures as the 816 pound copper-tipped impactor plunges into Tempel 1 at about 22,990 miles per hour. The impactor is expected to make a spectacular, football field-sized crater, seven to 15 stories deep, in the speeding comet. Carried aboard the impactor will be a standard mini-CD containing the names of comet and space enthusiasts from around the world.
People may submit their names for this historic one-way mission by visiting NASA's Deep Impact Web site, now through February 2004, at deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov.
The collision between the impactor and Tempel 1 is not forceful enough to make an appreciable change in the comet's orbital path around the sun, NASA says. The comet poses no threat to Earth, NASA says.
Should you need any more pointers on romantic things to do (or perhaps say) for a potential lady-love, feel free to ask anytime. Time's a'wastin'!!! :^D
BTW, it wasn't our mutual friend and highly-admired colleague...it was another "love-sick swain". Drat! Can't even remember the fellow's name at the moment...
Hey! I got one of those stars named after me!
It's called "We Got Your Girlfriend's Money for Your Birthday!"
There's a lesson here. He should have spent his money more wisely. On buying you breakfast.
What's this? Impossible.
I have it on good authority that PH and his furry mascot, Plato the Platy have an inseparable attachment for each other. So inseparable, in fact, that the DA is researching what to charge him with....
;-)
Dear Pildown_Woman;
Do you recommend using leather restraints on the first date, or should I be more conservative and and stick with the velvet ones until I "know her" better?
Sincerely,
All Tied Up and Nowhere to Go......
If he were a real man, she'd be interested more in something other than breakfast.....
Been spending a bit too much time alone with that telescope, I see. Well, science'll do that to you. My recommendation: take a walk in the park, look at the lovely spring flowers, greet a pretty lady or two as you are strolling, and settle in at a nice coffee shop for a cappucino. Then, smile to yourself with the sweet satisfaction that you did not let this spring go by unnoticed. Life is far too short, my friend. Savor what is presented to you...(also, speculating on the personal lives and habits of friends may anger the gods of astronomy).
Patrick's implication was a bit more suggestive, I'm afraid. My problem has been with finding a man smart enough (and humble enough) to hold my interest for more than a millisecond. Sadly, as smart as many scientists are, they are simply not good at what makes a relationship tick.
Longshadow's failure to understand "breakfast" is indicative of a man who got married in high school and never enjoyed a free moment thereafter. And poor Piltdown_Woman ... she gets it, but somehow remains unfulfilled. I think I can help you both. I shall accumulate a week's worth of spam, and then forward it on to each of you, via freepmail. If you can skip through the ones about interest rates, working at home, and digital cameras, I'm sure you'll find useful material.
PS: I'm looking for a way to name Orion after myself.
Longshadow, we've just been insulted by a man who keeps a platypus as a familiar...something must be done.
bump
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