Comet impact!

Anyone know why the impactor was made from copper?

Regards,

Stan-

Its cheap?

Or perhaps the aliens cant get tractor beams locked on to things made
of pure copper.

"Stan Dornfeld" wrote in message
...
Anyone know why the impactor was made from copper?


A very proud atricle on www.copper.org *

includes the following . . .
Why is this unique spacecraft made of copper? Because when copper
burns-which it will from the enormous force of the impact-it is less likely
than other metals to create bright, confusing emission lines in the spectrum
of interest, according to Prof. Michael A'Hearn, Department of Astronomy,
University of Maryland in College Park. He's one of the astronomers who
proposed Deep Impact.

The professor adds that aluminum, for instance, is not suitable for the
experiment because it would react with the water in the comet, creating
aluminum oxide, and produce very bright emissions that could distort the
data

http://www.copper.org/resources/cuto...pacecraft.html




*"we really like copper", "brass is almost as good"

Stan Dornfeld wrote:
Anyone know why the impactor was made from copper?

Regards,

Stan-


"The impactor is made primarily of copper (49%) as opposed to aluminum
(24%) because it minimizes corruption of spectral emission lines that
are used to analyze the nucleus."

http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/tech/impactor.html

Double-A

"Double-A" wrote in message
oups.com...


Stan Dornfeld wrote:
Anyone know why the impactor was made from copper?

Regards,

Stan-


"The impactor is made primarily of copper (49%) as opposed to aluminum
(24%) because it minimizes corruption of spectral emission lines that
are used to analyze the nucleus."

http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/tech/impactor.html


Another reason, though not stated in the official information source but is
major in the minds of the scientists who made the spacecraft, is "A space
probe made of bright gleaming copper is 'hecka - cool' and the scientists
could bring their girl friends over to see it late at night and thus finally
have a chance of getting laid."

Greysky

Stan Dornfeld wrote:

Anyone know why the impactor was made from copper?


One reason, as OG mentioned, is that the radiation from excited
copper atoms falls in different parts of the spectrum from those of
the chemical species the investigators are most interested in, so
those signals won't be 'stepped on' by the impactor's contribution to
the explosion. Another is that they don't expect there to be an
appreciable amount of metallic minerals in the comet to begin with,
so by subtracting the known 'signature' of copper from their
observations of the impact debris they can obtain a clean profile for
the cometary material alone.

--
Odysseus

Greysky wrote:
"Double-A" wrote in message
oups.com...


Stan Dornfeld wrote:
Anyone know why the impactor was made from copper?

Regards,

Stan-


"The impactor is made primarily of copper (49%) as opposed to aluminum
(24%) because it minimizes corruption of spectral emission lines that
are used to analyze the nucleus."

http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/tech/impactor.html


Another reason, though not stated in the official information source but is
major in the minds of the scientists who made the spacecraft, is "A space
probe made of bright gleaming copper is 'hecka - cool' and the scientists
could bring their girl friends over to see it late at night and thus finally
have a chance of getting laid."

Greysky


Those science nerd dudes will do what they hafta to do!

Double-A

Hi Stan I would think that the comet would have no cooper in its
structure. That means when the hot debris is analyzed the cooper part of
the spectrum can be ruled out. Gold would have been good. silver would
have been OK Cooper is cheaper Bert

nightbat wrote

Double-A wrote:

Greysky wrote:
"Double-A" wrote in message
oups.com...


Stan Dornfeld wrote:
Anyone know why the impactor was made from copper?

Regards,

Stan-


"The impactor is made primarily of copper (49%) as opposed to aluminum
(24%) because it minimizes corruption of spectral emission lines that
are used to analyze the nucleus."

http://deepimpact.jpl.nasa.gov/tech/impactor.html


Another reason, though not stated in the official information source but is
major in the minds of the scientists who made the spacecraft, is "A space
probe made of bright gleaming copper is 'hecka - cool' and the scientists
could bring their girl friends over to see it late at night and thus finally
have a chance of getting laid."

Greysky

Those science nerd dudes will do what they hafta to do!

Double-A

nightbat

Yes, leave it to scientists and researchers always wanting to
penetrate what they can.

carry on,
the nightbat

Hi You All What if bringing man made stuff from Earth into the solar
system contaminates this very pure system?. Just like we have all that
man made garbage in orbit around the Earth. Can I carry this thought
right up to impact,and the explosion. Did not the camera finally hit?
This would be all man made debris,and that's the stuff I'm relating my
thoughts on. I would like to see only very close up pictures shown. I
would like to see only a small chip and some surface dust taken and
brought back to Earth and be analyzed.. Best to keep in mind its best
to do things in a nice gentle way,so as not to upset mother nature. Bert