What has been learned from "Deep Impact."

What HAS been learned?
-Rich

Rich wrote:
What HAS been learned?
-Rich


http://www.jpl.nasa.gov/missions/cur...eepimpact.html
http://skyandtelescope.com/search.as....x=14&g o.y=7


A Grand Slam: In a winning move, NASA probe burrows into a comet

A 372-kilogram copper projectile released from NASA's Deep Impact
spacecraft successfully slammed into Comet Tempel 1 on July 4,
producing some heavenly fireworks.
http://www.sciencenews.org/articles/20050709/bob7.asp

DC Agle (818) 393-9011

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, Pasadena, Calif.
Dolores Beasley (202) 358-1753
NASA Headquarters, Washington

Lee Tune (301) 405-4679
University of Maryland, College Park

News Release:
2005-113
July 8, 2005

NASA's Deep Impact Tells a Tale of the Comet

Data from Deep Impact's instruments indicate an immense cloud of fine
powdery material was released when the probe slammed into the nucleus
of comet Tempel 1 at about 10 kilometers per second (6.3 miles per
second or 23,000 miles per hour). The cloud indicated the comet is
covered in the powdery stuff. The Deep Impact science team continues to
wade through gigabytes of data collected during the July 4 encounter
with the comet measuring 5-kilometers-wide by 11-kilometers-long
(about 3-miles-wide by 7-miles-long).

"The major surprise was the opacity of the plume the impactor created
and the light it gave off," said Deep Impact Principal Investigator Dr.
Michael A'Hearn of the University of Maryland, College Park. "That
suggests the dust excavated from the comet's surface was extremely
fine, more like talcum powder than beach sand. And the surface is
definitely not what most people think of when they think of comets --
an ice cube."

How can a comet hurtling through our solar system be made of a
substance with less strength than snow or even talcum powder?

"You have to think of it in the context of its environment," said Dr.
Pete Schultz, Deep Impact scientist from Brown University, Providence,
R.I. "This city-sized object is floating around in a vacuum. The only
time it gets bothered is when the Sun cooks it a little or someone
slams an 820-pound wakeup call at it at 23,000 miles per hour."

The data review process is not overlooking a single frame of
approximately 4,500 images from the spacecraft's three imaging cameras
taken during the encounter.

"We are looking at everything from the last moments of the impactor to
the final look-back images taken hours later, and everything in
between," added A'Hearn. "Watching the last moments of the impactor's
life is remarkable. We can pick up such fine surface detail that
objects that are only four meters in diameter can be made out. That is
nearly a factor of 10 better than any previous comet mission."

The final moments of the impactor's life were important, because they
set the stage for all subsequent scientific findings. Knowing the
location and angle the impactor slammed into the comet's surface is the
best place to start. Engineers have established the impactor took two
not unexpected coma particle hits prior to impact. The impacts slewed
the spacecraft's camera for a few moments before the attitude control
system could get it back on track. The penetrator hit at an
approximately 25 degree oblique angle relative to the comet's surface.
That's when the fireworks began.

The fireball of vaporized impactor and comet material shot skyward. It
expanded rapidly above the impact site at approximately 5 kilometers
per second (3.1 miles per second). The crater was just beginning to
form. Scientists are still analyzing the data to determine the exact
size of the crater. Scientists say the crater was at the large end of
original expectations, which was from 50 to 250 meters (165 to 820
feet) wide.

Expectations for Deep Impact's flyby spacecraft were exceeded during
its close brush with the comet. The craft is more than 3.5 million
kilometers (2.2 million miles) from Tempel 1 and opening the distance
at approximately 37,000 kilometers per hour (23,000 miles per hour).
The flyby spacecraft is undergoing a thorough checkout, and all systems
appear to be in excellent operating condition.

The Deep Impact mission was implemented to provide a glimpse beneath
the surface of a comet, where material from the solar system's
formation remains relatively unchanged. Mission scientists hoped the
project would answer basic questions about the formation of the solar
system by providing an in-depth picture of the nature and composition
of comets.

The University of Maryland is responsible for overall Deep Impact
mission science, and project management is handled by JPL. The
spacecraft was built for NASA by Ball Aerospace & Technologies
Corporation, Boulder, Colo. JPL is a division of the California
Institute of Technology, Pasadena, Calif.

What HAS been learned?
-Rich


Ah, the s.a.a troll is back. Sigh...

-Florian

You don't know either, huh?

On 23 Aug 2005 19:40:02 -0700, "Rich"
wrote:

What HAS been learned?

The preliminary results were discussed at a meeting in Brazil a couple
of weeks ago. Several papers discussing these results will appear in
Science next month. If other missions are any indication, additional
papers will continue to be published in major journals over the next few
years.

So to specifically answer your question: check the next few issues of
Science. Keep in mind that much of this information may never make it to
the popular press. The public has a very short attention span once the
flashy part of a mission is over (for example, there is some great data
starting to come from Genesis, but you need to read the scientific
papers to get any of it).

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

I figured it would at least make it to Sky and Tel.

Rich wrote:
I figured it would at least make it to Sky and Tel.


And so it did.

On 24 Aug 2005 15:56:50 -0700, "Rich"
wrote:

I figured it would at least make it to Sky and Tel.

S&T isn't a journal for primary publication. So first the papers will
come out in Science (and later, other journals), and then S&T will
distill the papers into articles or news reports. So if you want the
information as soon as it is available, go to the journals. If you can
wait a couple of additional months, read the synopses in S&T.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

"Chris L Peterson" wrote in message
...
On 24 Aug 2005 15:56:50 -0700, "Rich"
wrote:

I figured it would at least make it to Sky and Tel.

S&T isn't a journal for primary publication. So first the papers will
come out in Science (and later, other journals), and then S&T will
distill the papers into articles or news reports. So if you want the
information as soon as it is available, go to the journals. If you can
wait a couple of additional months, read the synopses in S&T.

_________________________________________________

Chris L Peterson
Cloudbait Observatory
http://www.cloudbait.com

....or you can read the October issue of S&T... Got mine today.

--
Jan Owen

To reach me directly, remove the Z, if one appears in my e-mail address...
Latitude: 33.662
Longitude: -112.3272

Check out

www.Thunderbolts.info

Interesting new theory on the universe.

"G.T." wrote in message
...

"Florian" wrote in message
...
What HAS been learned?
-Rich

Ah, the s.a.a troll is back. Sigh...

Yeah, just love his clueless "American economy" troll.

Greg